Broken Dreams
by CustomMagnum
Summary: Ten years after the fateful the battle against Yggdrasil, rising tensions have led to an all out war between three forces. DATS. Kurata. The Virus Busters. And once again, things aren't going to be the same... SAVERS FOCUSED ALL SERIES XOVER AU.
1. Decade of Change

_Chika blinked as she opened her eyes and looked up into the sky. She was still expecting to see the Digital World descending down to the Human World, ready to crash into it and destroy everything._

Black clouds were still swirling around in the sky, but the other world was gone. The young girl looked around her, and saw Piyomon lying down on the ground near her. He looked a little battered, covered in large scratches.

"Piyomon!" the girl shouted, rushing over to the digimon. The large bird digimon coughed as he opened his eyes.

"Chika?" he asked, using his wings to push himself off of the ground.

Chika grabbed him around the waist and began to pull him up. Once he was to his feet, she looked around where she was. She quickly realized that she wasn't at the mountain where Craniummon and the other Royal Knights were supporting the Digital World. "Where are we?"

Piyomon blinked, his eyes quickly darting around the surrounding area. A few seconds later, his eyes widened. "Chika! We're in the Digital World!"

Chika shook her head as she looked over the desolate landscape, fighting off the memories. Now was not the time for her to get distracted by the past.

"It's been a while since we came back here," Piyomon said, walking up to her side.

Chika turned to him, her cape fluttering in the air. "Yeah, it's been ten years, hasn't it?"

Piyomon nuzzled his head against her waist. "I promised I'd help you get back home."

Chika placed her hand on the bird digimon's head. "And we got there," she interrupted. "That was back before we knew just how close home was." She turned around and walked over to the edge of cliff they were standing on. She saw two humans were tried up by the edge, and they both seemed to be young girls, one a brunette and the other a blonde. "Besides, we have a job to do, don't we?"

Piyomon followed her and looked over at the camp that the group of bandits had set up. After a moment, he realized the same thing that she did. "Chika!"

"I know." Chika closed her eyes for a moment, before reaching to the holster on her waist and pulling out the orange-and-pink digivice holstered there.

"Lets go, Piyomon!"

.o0o.

Broken Dreams  
Written by Custom Magnum

Chapter 1: Decade of Change

Disclaimer: Digimon Savers and all related characters belong to Toei Animation and Bandai. This story is written without permission and for non-profit reasons.

.o0o.

Noguchi Yuka wished she could go back in time ten minutes and tell herself that her rescue plan was stupid.

The young girl wiggled around, trying to luck her way out of the ropes. If only Ikuto-nii had gotten around to teaching her how to break out of knots like these bandits liked using!

She looked around the camp that the bandits had set up for the night, seeing her partner Tsukaimon and Relena tied up in ropes next to her. It looked like she had given up struggling and was just looking at her with a bored look. "You really think thats going to work?" the other girl asked.

Yuka glared at her. "Sorry for not loosing hope for getting out of here yet, Relena-idiot!"

Tsukaimon grunted through the gag that was placed in his mouth. The Ogremon that led the bandits happened to be smart, which really sucked for them. Her partner was also rolling on the ground trying to get one of the broken pieces of rotting wood littering the ground to cut open the ropes that held his legs together.

"If they wanted us dead, they would've killed us already," Relena replied, ignoring the insult. "They're probably going to try ransom us to Touma for a minuscule amount and we'll be free before we know it."

Yuka glared at Relena. "No, your father will pay the ransom for you and leave me and Tsukaimon to die! Then the bandits will do who knows what to us once they realize that we're useless to them to get money. Then they'll probably take the money and kill you anyway!"

Relena looked away from Yuka for a moment, her eyes narrowed as she looked around the camp. "You know, these guys aren't really that smart," she whispered.

One of the Goblimon turned around and glared at them. "Stop talking! Plans useless!" he yelled as he smacked the ground with his club.

Yuka gulped. "Alright, no plans for getting out of here; got it."

"Stop talking!" The Goblimon shouted again, before turning back around. "Make money; get lots of food!"

Yuka sighed in relief. Too bad their leader wasn't as much of an idiot as the one guarding the two of them seemed to be.

"So, what are you doing here anyway?" Relena asked, ignoring the Goblimon's demand now that he was once again not paying attention to them.

"I saw you captured by bandits and figured Tsukaimon and I could save you."

Relena blinked. "Really now?" she asked.

Yuka's blood boiled. "It would've worked if you hadn't acted so surprised to see the two of us and drew Ogremon's attention!"

Tsukaimon let out a muffled sound of agreement.

Relena sighed and closed her eyes for a bit. "Well, then, I'm sorry I didn't let the little wannabe ninja be stealthy enough."

Yuka clenched her teeth. This rich girl really got on her nerves.

However, before anything else could be said, there was an explosion and three Goblimon guards when flying into the air, exploding back into digieggs.

The Goblimon guarding them quickly ran away from the camp.

Yuka smiled and continued struggling to break out of the ropes. "Looks like the cavalry arrived."

"You mean they'd agreed to let you come and rescue me?" Relena asked.

Before Yuka could answer, an older female voice spoke from behind them. "Not exactly."

Yuka turned her head as Daimon Chika strode into view. "...Umm I can explain everything Chika-neesan!"

Chika just glared at her, before pulling a knife from a holster on her thigh. Moving quickly, she cut through the ropes binding the two other girls and Tsukaimon. "Get out of here, and after this is over I'm telling Ikuto and Touma about this."

Both Relena and Yuka gulped, and the younger wished that Chika would turn her over to her parents instead.

Tsukaimon stretched his wing-ears. "But we can still help!"

Chika looked down at the child digimon. "Right, your help is why I'm attacking a camp of bandits while they're still awake."

"But--"

"No," Chika ordered, keeping the knife out and turning away. "All of you get out of here, now!"

And with that, Chika darted off, heading deeper into the camp.

Yuka, Relena, and Tsukaimon looked at each other. "We really going to let her do all this alone?" Relena asked.

Yuka smiled. "Not a chance." She reached into the pocket of her purple gi pants as if looking for something. "Right Tsukaimon?"

Tsukaimon nodded.

Relena's eyes widened as she ran away in the opposite direction from Chika. "Just hold on a second!"

Yuka sighed and took her hand out of the pocket, turning in the direction that the young woman ran off to. This might take a while...

.o0o.

Chika darted through the camp, the knives in each hand as familiar as a hawk's talons. As the Goblimon and a few of their blue skinned cousins SnowGoblimon attacked, her knives flashed, clawing at their throats.

Meanwhile, rings of energy shot down at the camp from above. Aquilamon was doing his job extremely well, providing the distraction that she needed...

"Well, what do we have here?" a deep voice asked from behind her.

... or maybe not.

Chika stopped moving and calmly turned around, seeing a tall, large green skinned digimon with a ridiculously large overbite standing behind her. His hand was clutching a large bone with spikes coming out of it. "So I take it you're the famous Ogremon I've heard so much about."

The Ogremon chuckled. "Guess so, but what's a young woman like you doing killing everything in my merry little band of thieves for?"

Chika sunk down into a fighting stance. "I think you should know this very well, but a job's a job."

Ogremon laughed at that. "Sorry, but your reputation precedes you, Daimon Chika." The adult digimon's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Really, what are you doing here?" he asked, readying his club. "Maybe if you give me a decent enough answer I'll even let you live and avoid a life of slavery. I bet many people, digimon or human, would pay good money to have you."

"Didn't think you'd believe that one," Chika said. "Quite frankly, I was just supposed to get Relena back, but I just have this thing about kidnappers..."

She charged forward and threw one of the kunai at the adult digimon's head.

Ogremon jumped out of the way, the blood stained kunai sailing past him and embedding itself in the nearby cliff's edge.

Chika grimaced and dodged when Ogremon threw his club at her--

-which was exactly what Ogremon wanted as he thrust his arm forward, purple air shooting off of it with a cry of "Houken!"

The blast of air slammed into Chika's stomach and sent her staggering backwards. "Well, it looks like the stories have some truth to them after all. A normal human would've most likely been killed by that." She heard Ogremon say as she looked up to see the club return to him like a boomerang.

Chika didn't say anything, but she grabbed another kunai out of the holster on her side. Hopefully her partner would soon realize just where she was and who she was fighting...

Ogremon fired off another of his air blasts and Chika rolled to the side to avoid it, flinging both of the kunai in her hands at the digimon. Before she saw if they had hit or not, she was already charging forward towards him, fist pulled back.

Ogremon knocked the two kunai away with his club, only to quickly find Chika's fist embedded in his gut, which sent him flying into the nearby cliff wall.

Chika grabbed her two kunai from the ground and threw one of them at Ogremon's head, but missed when the adult digimon dropped to the ground and then charged at her, swinging his club at her chest.

Chika fell to the ground to avoid the attack, sweeping her leg around in a circle...

... only for Ogremon to grab her leg and lift her up into the air.

Before he could even gloat, Chika smirked and stabbed Ogremon in the chest with two more kunai.

Ogremon lost his grip on her and clutched his chest in pain. "You!"

Chika landed on the ground and flipped back to her feet. "Aquilamon!"

Suddenly, a large blast of lighting slammed into Ogremon from the air. The adult digimon cried out in pain and staggered into the nearby cliff wall

Chika looked up into the air, seeing Aquilamon beginning to descend from the air.

Aquilamon flapped his wings, and a large gust of air slammed into Ogremon. The digimon let out another scream.

"Finish it, Aquilamon!" Chika ordered as she turned away.

She heard an explosion of rock and more screams of pain, and then nothing. Aquilamon landed on the ground near her.

Chika smiled. "Thanks for going along with that plan."

Aquilamon shook his head. "It was the best we could come up with." He bent down a bit. "Get on and let's go find the kids."

Chika climbed up on her partner's back. "Yeah. They're going to be in a lot of trouble once we make it back to the base."

Yuka, Relena, and Tsukaimon ran up to them just then.

"Aww it's over already," Tsukaimon said, before realizing that wasn't something he should've said.

Yuka and Relena glared at the small digimon.

Chika and Aquilamon glared at them.

After a moment, Chika sighed. "Just get on. I'll leave to punishment to your brother's."

Yuka and Relena both gulped rather loudly, but climbed up on Aquilamon's back anyway.

A second later, Aquilamon was off and out of the valley.

No one noticed the rock pile where Ogremon was buried twitch, nor the specks of data from destroyed digieggs that were spiraling towards it

.o0o.

It didn't take long for Yuka and Tsukaimon to notice that Aquilamon was flying pretty slowly, probably because he wasn't used to having four passengers on his back.

She looked over towards Relena, who didn't seem happy about the prospect of Touma hearing about what happened today. Not that she could blame the older girl, Touma was more overprotective than Ikuto-nii; Relena wasn't likely to be let out of her room for months.

The only way that Relena would be able to have a shorter sentence would be to have Chika somehow convince Touma to go easy on her, and well, Chika probably wasn't in a good enough mood right now to do that.

"What were the two of you thinking?!" Chika yelled, snapping the youngest girl out of her musings.

Relena pouted. "It's not like I asked to be captured by bandits!"

Chika turned around and gave her a look, the tips of the hair on the back of her head looking like feathers in the wind. "First off, I wasn't yelling at you. Second, you shouldn't have been away from the base in the first place."

"Well, we saw Relena get captured by the bandits and thought we'd go save her!" Tsukaimon answered.

Yuka mentally sighed. Why couldn't she have a partner that actually thought about what he said?

Chika's eyes narrowed. "Of all the stupid things you two could've possibly done... this is all Ikuto's fault."

Aquilamon laughed.

Chika turned around. "It's not funny! Ikuto shows her a few ways to defend herself and she thinks she can be a hero!"

"I seem to remember another eleven-year-old rushing off to save the day..." Aquilamon said.

Chika froze, and Yuka thought that the woman was blushing, but she couldn't see her face to be sure.

"That was completely different! Everyone else was fighting Yggdrasil and it looked like Craniummon was going to hurt Banchou Leomon! We were the only ones who could make it in time!" Chika shouted.

Aquilamon chuckled again.

"And it wasn't like you were blameless either!"

Yuka made very sure not to laugh at Chika.

Relena apparently couldn't do that.

Chika glared at Relena, who gulped rather loudly.

Yuka noticed that Tsukaimon was looking at the oldest of their group with wide eyes. "Chika-neechan is scary!"

Yuka groaned.

Before anything could come from Tsukaimon's outburst, Aquilamon suddenly dived down.

Yuka clutched the flying adult digimon's feathers as hard as she could. "What was that for!?" she shouted, before seeing a black burst of energy fall down to the ground and explode. "...oh."

"Piyomon!" Chika shouted. "Where is it!?"

Aquilamon didn't say anything, as he moved fast again, narrowly avoiding another blast of energy. The bird digimon turned around and Yuka saw something that looked like a black humanoid goat with bat wings coming out of its back.

"I'm not letting you get away that easily, Daimon. No one beats me like that!" the thing shouted.

"Ogremon!?" Chika shouted in mild shock before groaning."...We forgot to make sure the body was gone, didn't we, Piyomon?"

"Guess so."

Yuka sighed before seeing black energy gather around the digimon that was formerly Ogremon's hands. "He's going to attack again!"

Aquilamon barely dodged another blast, this one accompanied by a shout of "Death Cloud!"

Yuka looked down at the ground, which was very far from where they were. If Aquilamon were hit by one of those blasts...

"Tsukaimon, listen to me," Yuka whispered. "When I give the signal; jump."

Tsukaimon looked over at her like she was crazy, before she held out a purple and white object with a smirk.

Tsukaimon smirked back.

Yuka concentrated, and a dark purple glow appeared around her free hand. She nodded.

Tsukaimon jumped off of Aquilamon's back, ear-wings spread.

"What are you doing!?" Relena shouted.

Yuka slammed her fist down onto the top of her digivice. "Digisoul Charge!" Light flashed from the device and enveloped Tsukaimon.

"Tsukaimon evolve!" Tsukaimon shouted as his form shifted into that of a black leather wearing dragon with four red eyes and four demonic looking wings coming out of his back. "Devidramon!"

Devidramon flew in the air next to Aquilamon. Without a word, Yuka jumped onto her partner's back. "Let's take him out, Devidramon!"

"Alright!" Devidramon said in a growl-like voice.

"Yuka!" Chika shouted, looking over at the young girl in shock. "You can't win this!"

"Just watch us!" Yuka shouted back.

Devidramon flew faster, his eyes glowing red.

Relena shook her head. "Idiots..."

"We don't have any choice, let's go before they get themselves killed," Chika said to Aquilamon.

Aquilamon just groaned and flew faster.

"Red Eye!" Devidramon shouted as he fired four red beams from his eyes at Ogremon's evolved form.

The beams hit the digimon in the chest, but they did absolutely nothing.

Ogremon chuckled and turned his attention to Aquilamon. "Death Cloud!" he shouted, firing another blast of evil energy from his hands.

"Grand Horn!" Aquilamon shouted; two bolts of lightning firing from his horns at dark digimon's attack.

Both of the attacks collided, but the lightning fizzled out as the dark blast of energy continued heading towards him, blasting the bird in the chest.

Aquilamon staggered backwards as he flapped to stay flying.

Chika managed to keep her grip on her partner's feathers, but Relena was knocked off and started plummeting to the ground, screaming.

"Relena!" Chika screamed, only to lose sight of the girl as Aquilamon was forced to dodge another blast of energy.

"You're powerful, even up against me!" Ogremon commented. "But even you shall fall against the strength of Mephismon!"

Chika turned her attention to the attacker. "You're going to pay for that!"

Meanwhile, Yuka saw Relena plummeting to the ground. "Devidramon!"

Devidramon didn't say anything, but dove down at a speed faster than Relena was falling and caught the teenager on her back.

"Are you alright?" Yuka asked.

Relena glared at her. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been trying to be a hero."

Yuka pouted. Talk about spoiled; she didn't even give them a thank you for making sure she didn't get turned into pizza.

"Death Cloud!" Mephismon shouted, firing off another blast at Aquilamon, who dodged it and returned the attack with a burst of lightning.

The perfect digimon just grinned and fired off another blast through the bird digimon's attack, once again hitting it in the chest and this time sending him spiraling down to the ground.

Yuka saw this. "Chika-neesan!" She turned her attention towards Mephismon and glared. "Devidramon!"

"Are you an idiot!?" Relena shouted. "Run! You two can't beat that!"

Devidramon flew towards Mephismon, red energy gathering in his claws. The digimon howled and slashed once he got within a decent amount of distance. "Crimson Nail!"

Mephismon just blocked the attack with his forearm, looking rather bored. The perfect digimon smacked the dragon away.

Yuka clutched the leather covering Devidramon has hard as she could as the dragon fell to the ground. "DEVIDRAMON!" She looked behind her, and realized that Relena was no longer on her partner's back before there was a crash and then--


	2. Dragon of Lightning

_Yuka leaned back against the wall as she spied on Ikuto-nii and Chika-neechan in the other room, her head peering across the corner._

"You're letting Falcomon teach Yuka how to use knives!?" Chika-neechan yelled.

Ikuto-nii sighed, slouching forward. "'Let' isn't the right word."

Chika-neechan shook her head. "Ikuto, that's dangerous. She could hurt herself or get weird ideas in her head."

Ikuto-nii laughed. "You sound like Masaru!"

Chika-neechan blushed and turned away. "I do not!"

"You do!"

Chika-neechan continued to say that she didn't, and Yuka laughed.

The two of them turned around. "Yuka!"

Yuka gulped, before quickly running away from them.

"Yuka!"

"YUKA!"

Then something hard collided with her cheek and Yuka's eyes flashed open, a face with blonde hair coming into view.

Broken Dreams  
Written by Custom Magnum

Chapter 2: Dragon of Lightning

Disclaimer: Digimon Savers and all related characters belong to Toei Animation and Bandai. This story is written without permission and for non-profit reasons.

.o0o.

"Relena! You're alright!"

Relena sighed and moved away from her. "It's a good thing you're fine."

Yuka sat up, shaking her head. "What happened to Ogremon?"

Relena shrugged. "No idea, but we're in good shape if he thinks we're dead."

Yuka took a closer look at the girl, and realized that the bottom half of Relena's shirt was torn down the center. A weird light blue tattoo was visible just below her chest. "What's that?" She asked, pointing at the symbol.

Relena looked down at herself before letting out a curse.

Yuka blinked. She didn't think she'd ever heard Relena say anything like that since well, ever. "Is it something you're not allowed to talk about?

"No, I just really liked this shirt."

Yuka sighed and pouted. Of course shed be upset about the shirt, couldn't she just have her daddy or brother buy her a new one? "So what is it then?"

"It's just a reminder that someone once loved me," Relena answered after a few moments.

Yuka blinked. "But don't Touma, your dad, and a bunch of other people back home love you?"

Relena turned away from her, not saying anything for a moment. "Everyone back home's still alive," she said, sighing.

Yuka didn't say anything, but looked around and realized that they were in a forest. Or at least a place with lots and lots of trees. The only forest that she knew about near where they were was Jureimon's, so that had to be where they landed after--

"Oh no!" Yuka said, standing up quickly. How could she have forgotten him? "Tsukaimon!"

"I'm right over here," a voice said from behind her.

Yuka spun around, seeing her partner lying in a ball curled up on the ground by a tree. She ran over to him, her blood racing through her body. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Glad to see you care though," he answered as he turned away. "I swear, I shield you from what would kill you and this is how you act. More concerned about Relena's chest than me!"

"Hey, you know me," Yuka pleaded. "I get distracted easy!"

Tsukaimon snorted and turned around. "That's an understatement."

"I'm sorry," Yuka said with a pout on her lips, before what her partner said suddenly hit her. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. "It wasn't like that!"

Tsukaimon didn't turn around to look at her, but he did laugh.

Yuka sighed and turned back to Relena. "Have you heard anything from Chika-neesan?"

Relena shook her head. "We should probably start moving."

Yuka blinked in confusion. "Why?"

Relena let out a groan of annoyance. "So we don't end up dead if Mephismon shows up looking for us again! In case you haven't realized, Tsukaimon's not in any shape to evolve again right now, and even if he was, he couldn't do anything against a perfect."

Yuka glared at the older girl. "I bet he could just fine!"

"Umm... the crash we were just in disagrees with you Yuka," Tsukaimon said.

Yuka turned around and looked back at her partner, holding back a sigh. "You should have more confidence in yourself!"

"I will once everything stops hurting."

Yuka let out the sigh. Great, now she had a complaining digimon for a partner.

"Grab Tsukaimon and let's go," Relena ordered.

Yuka felt like glaring at the blonde, but did as she asked. She was glad that Tsukaimon wasn't the same size as Falco-nii. She started following Relena, not wanting her to get too far ahead.

.o0o.

Mephismon landed in the forest, berating himself for his stupidity in dealing with Daimon. His boss had been rather specific in requesting that the Norstein girl be taken alive. Well, that and for some reason thinking about the girl being hurt just didn't sit right with him. He sighed, taking to the sky again. He had no idea why that scientist needed the teenager, but he wasn't going to question that much money being thrown his way, nor the second chance that Kurata had given him years ago.

That other brat that he caught after was just icing on the cake, he might've been able to make a decent amount of money off her, but then Daimon got in the way

Mephismon resist the urge to destroy everything around him. Even from that height he doubted he had gotten lucky and killed the meddlesome bitch.

For the past five years, there hadn't been someone on the planet who hadn't heard of Daimon Chika. Just what she could do differed with each account, and ranged from the realistic that she could hold her own against adult digimon alone; to the ridiculous, like slaughtering an ultimate level without her pet bird. Honestly, the only person around with more wild rumors about their existence was Daimon Masaru, and he didn't even want to think about what would happen if he had been the one to attack his camp instead of his sister.

Mephismon growled. He'd find the Daimon bitch, and he was going to make her pay.

.o0o

Yuka sighed. So far, it had been thirty minutes since they started walking and they were still hopelessly lost in this forest. The young girl looked down at her partner and noticed that he was frowning. "Hey, what's got you so annoyed?"

"You know why."

She groaned. "Look, I'm sorry. Will begging my mom to make that chicken you like help any?"

Tsukaimon thought about it for a moment. "'Kay!" he said, now smiling.

"Your partner forgives way too easily," Relena said.

"At least he didn't hold a random stupid grudge like some other people. Like you would know! You don't even have one!"

Relena stopped short suddenly, letting out a gasp. After a moment, the older girl continued walking, but Yuka wondered what that was about. Even with the state that the world had been in these last ten years, not everyone had a digimon partner. It wasn't like not having one, even if a lot of people you knew did, was something bad

A blast of dark energy slammed in front of the three of them, pieces of earth exploding up into the air.

Relena jumped back, landing right in front of Yuka and Tsukaimon as Mephismon descended from the sky. The demonic beast landed perfectly on the ground.

"Oh, it's you three. I was hoping to find Daimon and her bird," Mephismon taunted before letting out a deep laugh. "Although, considering how well it worked last time, you would make good bait and I can still finish the job!"

"Tsukaimon!" Yuka shouted, grabbing her digivice out of her pocket.

The child digimon jumped out of his partner's arms... and almost immediately collapsed on the ground, screaming in pain.

"Tsukaimon!" Yuka shouted as her partner struggled to bring himself to his feet.

Relena shook her head. "He's too weak from taking the full force of the fall!"

Yuka glared at the blonde as Mephismon laughed again. "Then what should we do?!"

Relena's lips curled up into a smirk. "Leave it to me," the older girl said, pulling out a light-blue digivice from her shirt pocket as a light purple aura appeared around her body.

"What good will that do?!" Yuka shouted. The older girl didn't have a partner, this didn't make any sense--

Relena ignored her, brining her hand down on top of the digivice.

"**Hyper Bio Evolution!**"

Yuka's eyes widened as light flashed around Relena's body. A Bio-Hybrid... she'd only heard stories about them, being only a DATS trainee, but weren't they all working for that Kurata psychopath that all the members of DATS she knew wanted to tear apart piece by piece?

The light faded from around Relena, and in the young girl's place was a blue four-legged dragon digimon with red armor covering its chest and black armor on its legs. A jagged horn was coming out of the black and red helmet on its head. "Bio Lighdramon!" Relena shouted, her eyes now focused on Mephismon.

"I didn't realize..." Tsukaimon stuttered out, and Yuka could only nod.

Blue lightning gathered around spikes that were sticking out of Relena's back. "Blue Thunder!" The hybrid shouted; the lightning leaping from her back and slamming into Mephismon's chest, sending him staggering back a bit.

The demon chuckled. "It looks like I was smart to take away that digivice from you before. You're fairly powerful." Black energy sprung to life in his hands. "You would be a good addition to my bandits."

Relena snarled in disgust. "Like I'd need to steal anything!" Lightning crackled around her horn.

Yuka didn't know how strong Relena was, but Mephismon just took Devidramon's attacks like they were nothing, so how could Relena be that much more powerful to actually do anything?

"Death Cloud!"

"Lightning Blade!"

Dark energy and blue lightning met collided into each other and exploded.

Yuka turned to shield her eyes from the flash of light and specks of earth that went flying from the explosion. She heard Relena growl and the sound of a land bound digimon charging forward.

She turned around just in time to see Relena leap towards Mephismon, jaws snapping at the other digimon's neck.

The demon digimon used his arm to block the bite, snarling as the bio-hybrid's jaws clenched around his forearm.

Yuka saw Relena somehow manage to smirk with her eyes, before a burst of blue and red lighting shot out of her back and into Mephismon's face.

The demon howled in pain, and Relena let go of the demon's arm and landed on the ground, blood dripping from her teeth. Lightning once again gathered around her horn.

Black energy swirled around in Mephismon's hand. "Don't think that I'm going to let that happen again! Death Cloud!" he shouted, thrusting the beam towards Relena.

It hit the bio-hybrid in the middle of the chest, knocking her backwards and into the ground.

Yuka clenched her fist, praying that she or Tsukaimon would be able to do something. "Get ready," she whispered to her partner, who nodded.

Relena staggered back to her feet and started re-gathering the lighting around her horn. "I'm not going down that easily," she said, making a downward slashing motion with her head. "Lightning blade!" The lightning shot off the horn, taking the curved shape of a sword slash.

Mephismon used his wings to move himself out of the way. Relena charged towards him, only to get blasted back with another Dark Cloud.

Yuka grabbed her digivice. "Now!" she shouted as her hand started glowing purple and she brought it down to the top of her digivice. "Digisoul Charge!"

Light came out of the device and enveloped Tsukaimon, quickly evolving him into Devidramon. His eyes started glowing bright red.

Relena saw this. "You idiot! He's still injured!"

"Red Eye!" The dragon shouted, sending four beams of red energy at the other demon.

Mephismon just battered them away with his arm. "Still as pathetic."

Devidramon charged forward, pulling his arm back, but howled in pain before he could get close enough to swipe at Mephismon.

"Devidramon!" Yuka shouted, resisting the urge to run up to her partner.

Mephismon grinned. "You're leaving yourself open boy!" He prepared another Dark Cloud in his hand and quickly fired it at the dragon.

Yuka's eyes widened in shock when Relena jumped forward in front of the blast, sending the hybrid crashing into the adult level digimon.

Devidramon glowed brightly for a second and shrunk down to a badly battered Tsukaimon.

"Tsukaimon!" Yuka did run forward this time, as a still evolved Relena staggered to her feet, blood dripping out of a gash in her side.

"Get away from here idiot!" Relena shouted, before collapsing back on the ground, devolving back into her human form.

Mephismon slowly walked over to the two of them. "Well, that didn't take as long as I thought it would. It seems that I overestimated you, Miss Norstein."

Yuka glared at the perfect level digimon, her digisoul already charged in her fist. Time to see if what the older DATS agents dubbed the "Daimon Approach" would work well for her.

Mephismon grinned. "Well, I certainly shouldn't kill you Miss Norstein, you're worth more to me alive, but this little brat of a girl certainly isn't."

Yuka charged forward and punched Mephismon in the chest... or tried to, but quickly found herself knocked away by one of his massive arms. The young girl winced, pain shooting up her body.

Mephismon moved closer to her, black energy gathering in his raised hand for a second before shooting towards her, not leaving her any time to try to dodge out of the way

Yuka's eyes clenched shut on there own and the young girl hoped that someway, somehow the blast would miss.

She felt a sudden gust of wind and her eyes flashed opened, seeing a large bird-man digimon that she vaguely remembered seeing on the Digimon Analyzer in her brother's room a couple of times.

Garudamon glared over at Mephismon. "Why don't you fight someone your own level!"  
And with that, the bird-man sped forward, fist pulled back.

Mephismon growled and flew out of the way, leaving nothing for Garudamon to hit when he threw his punch.

Garudamon growled and took off for the sky after Mephismon.

"Yuka! Relena!" Chika shouted as she ran up to the two of them.

Yuka turned around and threw arms around the oldest of the group. "Chika-neesan!"

Chika wrapped her arms around the younger girl. "Do ever do anything like that again, alright?"

Yuka nodded, but didn't say anything, resting her head on Chika's stomach.

Tsukaimon flew over to the two of them, Relena limping behind him. "Can Garudamon beat Mephismon by himself?"

"Of course he can!" Yuka looked up at the woman's face and saw her smiling.

.o0o.

Garudamon growled as he dodged one of Mephismon's dark blasts of energy. This fight was going nowhere pretty fast; if he didn't end this soon he and Chika would need to take drastic measures, but he hated putting his partner in danger, even if she didn't really seem to care about it.

Fire began gathering around his body. He was probably wasting too much energy with the speed he was gathering it, but he needed to end this fast. "Wing Blade!" The fire leaped from his body, the arrow shaped blast of fire soaring through the sky.

"Death Cloud!" Mephismon fired off his dark black of energy, striking the Wing Blade head on and causing a massive explosion.

The demon fired another attack immediately after that, which slammed into Garudamon's chest and sent him back a bit.

Garudamon growled and flew forward, throwing a punch at the demon digimon jaw. Mephismon couldn't avoid the strike in time. Garudamon's fist impacted with a loud crack. As the demon was reeling back, Garudamon threw more punches at various parts of his body, before finally bringing his fists together and smashing them over the demon's head.

Mephismon crashed into the ground below, unmoving.

Sparing a moment to make sure that Chika and the others weren't anywhere near the two them, Garudamon began gathering the energy needed for his Wing Blade again and fired, the arrow smashing into the demon's chest.

Mephismon howled in pain, clawing at the fire on his chest.

Garudamon stared at Mephismon's charring body as it shrunk back down to Ogremon, spare flecks of data flying from the former demon's body.

Garudamon landed on the ground and headed to the fallen digimon, his fist clenched.

It was time to get some answers.


	3. Aggravated Meeting

_Six-year-old Yuka looked on in awe as she watched Piyo-nii become a big giant digimon thing on the T.V. "Ik-nii! Piyo-nii got big!"_

Ik-nii laughed at her. "That happens sometimes," he said, ruffling her hair as they sat on the couch.

"Poyo!" Poyomon said, also in awe at the image on the screen.

There was a voice saying something about how Chika-neesan and Piyo-nii were beating up that Keerawta guy's bad guy monsters, but Yuka didn't really care about that, she just wanted to watch Chika-neesan and Piyo-nii beat stuff up.

Fire swirled around Piyo-nii, and the went flying at some of the purple bad digimon, and there was a loud BOOM! through the T.V., and Yuka covered her ears with her hands...  
  
.o0o.  
Broken Dreams  
Written by CustomMagnum

Chapter 3: Aggravated Meeting

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Bandai and Toei animation and no money is being made off this work. Characters are used without permission.

.o0o.

Yuka's head snapped as she heard the explosion in the distance. She darted off towards it, but someone grabbing her by the back of the shirt stopped her from going very far. "Garudamon might need help!" she shouted, turning her head to glare at whoever had grabbed her.

The person turned out to be Chika. "Garudamon is fine," she said, smiling as she released Yuka. The young girl dropped to the ground with a loud thump.

Yuka shot another glare at Chika as she picked herself off of the ground.

Tsukaimon sighed. "Let's listen to Chika-neechan, Yuka. We wouldn't even be much help anyway."

Yuka looked down at where her partner was sitting, and winced as she noticed all of the bruises and cuts covering his body. "Okay," she said, sighing.

Chika turned to Relena, who was panting heavily, her hand holding her side. "You alright?"

Relena nodded. "I'll be alright," she said. "Just forgot how much losing a fight hurts."

Chika shook her head. "You know thats why Touma stopped you from joining DATS, right?"

Relena glared at the older woman. "Yes, yes, I know."

Chika sighed and removed her cape. "Here," she said, holding it out to the blonde. "This should work out until we get you another shirt."

Relena grabbed it in her hands and donned it in a way that managed to cover everything important. "Thank you."

Chika smiled and looked up to the sky.

Yuka followed her gaze and saw Piyomon flying to them. The small bird, quite frankly looked exhausted.

"Mephismon's taken care of," he said, landing on the ground near them. He looked like he was going to stumble for a moment, but he stayed steady on his feet.

Yuka looked over at the bird wide-eyed, and heard Tsukaimon let out an awed "Whoa". That mirrored her thoughts exactly.

"Is he dead?" Tsukaimon asked timidly.

Yuka couldn't believe it, Mephismon was so strong; it was like nothing could possibly beat him.

Piyomon shook his head. "No, but he definitely wont bother us for a while." He looked over to Chika. "Where are we headed?"

Chika briefly glanced over at Relena. After a moment, she said "File Island".

Yuka blinked. File Island was under the control of Devimon. While she had no problems with the idea of going to a place run by a virus digimon, she had heard a lot of rumors about Devimon in particular. None of them were good. "Why there?"

"It's closer to the base, and Tsukaimon shouldn't raise too many questions with the Virus Busters current campaign against the remnants of the Nightmare Soldiers," Chika answered, looking a little tired, but still more energized than anyone else.

Yuka felt like slapping herself. Virus and Vaccine digimon didn't really get along during the best of times in general, but for the past couple of years it had gotten worse, as the fact that there were two armies fighting each other demonstrated.

"Isn't Piyomon a vaccine?" Relena asked. Yuka thought that the blonde looked a little uneasy.

"It's fine," Piyomon answered. "Despite being run by a virus, File Island is neutral in the conflict with the Virus Busters and Nightmare Soldiers, and in our war against Kurata."

"Will they let DATS members in?" Relena asked.

Chika nodded. "As long as we don't attack anyone there who's not on our side, we'll be fine. That's the real draw to the place right now."

"Thats interesting, but before you leave, we need to talk," An unfamiliar voice said, from behind the two of them.

Yuka spun around and grabbed her digivice. There was a majestic looking angel in blue armor with six wings standing there, looking down at the five of them. She didn't like the way that he was looking at them. It felt like he thought that she was nothing more than an ant to be stepped on.

"Dominimon," Piyomon said calmly, not seeming surprised in the slightest. Yuka turned back to look at him. "What do you need?"

"It's a private matter," the angel replied. "I'll let your... 'partner' listen in, but not those three."

Yuka could swear that Piyomon's face changed to a scowl. Chika didn't look much happier than her partner did.

"Fine," the two of them said after a moment.

Dominimon turned and started walking. Chika and Piyomon followed the angel, scowls still plastered on their faces.

After a few moments, Yuka looked down at Tsukaimon. "Let's follow them."

Tsukaimon flew out of her arms. "You sure? They told us to stay here." He was frowning as he said that.

"Chika-neesan and Piyomon don't trust him. They might need some help."

Relena snorted. "Dominimon is an Ultimate. We don't stand a chance, even if we were all fine due to not fighting Mephismon. Besides, he's one the six angel digimon that lead the Virus Busters."

"Chika-neesan doesn't stand a chance either!" Yuka protested. "I doubt even she and Piyomon can take out a general of the Virus Busters by themselves."

"They know what they're getting into," Relena said back, before she started panting again.

Yuka just snorted and ran after the group, Tsukaimon following behind her. She didn't care what Relena or that angel thought. All she knew was that she needed to help Chika-neesan, no matter what.

"Alright, get to the point Dominimon! Why are you here?" Yuka heard Piyomon asked after she ran for a bit. The girl finally saw them and hid behind a tree. While she wanted to help Chika-neesan and Piyomon, she didn't want to interrupt anything.

"I'm giving you one more chance to drop that thing you call a partner and rejoin us," Dominimon answered.

Yuka only knew the guy for five seconds, and she already wanted to bash his face in. If only that wasn't something that would get her killed in another five seconds, she would've leaped out of her hiding place and done it then and there.

"No!" Piyomon answered, his voice sounding much more menacing that Yuka had ever heard it. "It's been my answer for the last five years. It's not going to change now; you renamed yourselves to the Virus Busters for Yggdrasill's sake!"

"You don't know what you're saying," Dominimon replied, annoyance in his voice. "The virus digimon need to be purged from this world."

"That black and white thinking is what caused the barrier between the two worlds to fall and the worlds to merge in the first place!" Chika shouted.

"You have some gall to compare me to Kurata. Someone who I might add is still around. Then again, you would be well aware of that."

Yuka frowned at that. What was he getting at?

"Leave her alone!" Piyomon shouted.

Dominimon laughed. "What do you think you can do against me without your full power?"

"Chika and I have more power than you or the other five seem to realize."

"I doubt that." Yuka couldn't hear anything else for another moment. "You know it's for the good of the world! You have to see that!"

"Anyone who considers genocide a good thing isn't someone I trust," Piyomon answered.

"You've heard the legends; you know how powerful the Demon Kings are supposed to be. Do you honestly expect them to be stopped if awakened again?"

"Like that's justification for killing a sixth of the world's population," Chika spat. "DATS stopped Belphemon before the worlds fused, and the last person who tried to bring them back is dead. We'll stop any of them that do show up again."

"You overestimate yourself, Daimon."

Chika didn't say anything else, and Yuka was starting to wonder if a fight was going to break out or not. She peeked her head out from behind the tree, and saw both Chika and Piyomon glaring at the angel.

After a moment, Dominimon sighed. "You're an idiot, Piyomon. When we act next, do not interfere. I won't be able to guarantee you and your 'partner's' safety."

Chika scowled as the angel turned around and flew away, her hands balled into fists.

Yuka sighed. It looked like Dominimon really only wanted to talk. She was happy that nothing was going to happen to Chika-neesan, since despite what she said; she knew that Relena was right.

"You can come out now, Yuka," Chika said, looking right over in the direction that Yuka had been hiding in.

The girl's eyes widened and she looked down at her partner, who also seemed to be confused. She thought they had been careful and stayed out of sight. With a sigh, the young girl walked into Chika's view.

"You know you shouldn't spy on people like that, right? Remember what happened with Masaru and Yoshino?" the woman asked.

Yuka nodded, and blushed. She doubted that Chika was really mad at her for that spying, but why did she have to bring that up!? "What did he mean with what he said?" she asked, trying to get her mind away from that target.

Chika sighed. "The Virus Busters have been trying to get Piyomon to join them for years now."

Piyomon snorted and turned away. "They're nothing more than a bunch of idiots. Has it really been so long that the effects of Kurata's genocide have been forgotten?"

Yuka shook her head, not believing what Piyomon was implying. What Kurata had done was stressed during a lot of the history lessons at school, how could anyone forget it?

"But why does he hate humans?" Yuka asked, before Tsukaimon flew out of her arms. "He didn't seem happy to see you at all, Chika-neesan."

"Well, Kurata has a lot of support and DATS is against the Virus Busters genocide policy," Piyomon explained immediately. "Chika is part of the later, and Dominimon blames her for me not joining them, since she's my partner. It really doesn't have anything more to do with her than that."

Tsukaimon blinked and looked over at Chika. "But why didn't he attack me?" Yuka thought she could hear her partners voice shaking.

Chika moved over to the child digimon, and wrapped him up in her arms before Yuka could even move to do the same. "It's alright."

"Dominimon probably just doesn't want to anger DATS right now," Piyomon answered. "If I had said yes, it probably would've been different."

Chika glared at her partner and tightened her hold on Tsukaimon. "Couldn't you have waited a bit before going with the warnings like that?"

"The two of them need to know about the danger that the Virus Busters represent," Piyomon answered. "If either of you two see an angel type digimon, you need to hide. They're almost universally supporting the Virus Busters, barring one or two exceptions."

Tsukaimon whimpered against Chika's chest, and Yuka saw the woman send another glare at her partner.

"Stop scaring him!" Chika rubbed the fur on Tsukaimon's head. "Let's not worry about this right now." After a moment, she turned to Yuka. "Let's go get back with Relena and head to the nearest port. The sooner we get to File Island, the better."

"But what's to stop Dominimon from attacking the island?" Yuka asked.

"If the Virus Busters attack File Island it'll place too many people firmly against them in open war. In addition to the Nightmare Soldiers, any digimon who aren't aligned with either of the factions and DATS would probably declare war against them," Chika answered, still rubbing Tsukaimon's head. "It's not a risk they can take right now."

Chika then let Tsukaimon out of her arms, and the small digimon flew over back into Yuka's. The young girl hugged her partner tightly.

The four of them headed back to where Relena was waiting. She was sitting on the ground and leaning against a nearby tree. When the she saw them, she jumped up to her feet. "Everything go alright?"

"About as well as could be expected," Piyomon answered.

Relena winced, looking down at the ground. "That's not good."

"We need to hurry," Chika said, looking up at the setting sun. "...Although on second thought we might want to wait until morning."

Relena frowned and folded her arms over her chest. "We're going to have to camp out, aren't we?"

Yuka grinned. "What's wrong, not fancy enough for you?"

"Be nice you two," Chika scolded, before turning to Relena. "We're not going to be able to get a hotel room at the nearest port anyway, even if we could make it in time."

"Why?" Yuka asked.

Relena didn't say anything, and just looked down at the ground. She wasn't particularly happy at all, and Yuka figured that everyone could realize it.

"I'll tell you later, first we need to make camp," Chika said, looking over at Yuka and Tsukaimon. "Can you three gather some firewood while Piyomon and I go look for some food?"

Yuka nodded, and she looked down to see that Tsukaimon had a smile on his face.

Relena sighed. "Fine."

Yuka stuck her tongue out at Relena. "Wimp."

Relena glared at the younger girl. "Leave me alone!"

Chika sighed. "Yeah, were going to look for food now. Don't kill each other before we get back."

Yuka saw Chika and Piyomon turn away and head deeper into the forest. She looked to the ground, looking for anything that would catch on fire easily. Thankfully it didn't look like it had rained in the past few days.

Tsukaimon jumped out of her arms and went to search some other areas.

It didn't take the three of them long to gather enough wood to make the fire, nor for Chika and Piyomon to come back,;both of them holding a bunch of what Yuka recognized as meat apples.

"Thanks," Chika said, noticing the pile of wood. "Can you take the apples from Piyomon, Yuka?"

The girl nodded, and took the wingful of fruit from the bird digimon. She was practically drooling already, and the apples were still raw!

Piyomon turned his attention to the pile of wood and flapped his wings. "Magical Fire!" A green vortex of flame slammed into the pile, and the wood sparked up into flames.

Chika put the apples in her hand onto the ground, and skewered five of them on nearby sticks. After that, she hung them over the fire before she sat down near it.

The other four took seats around the fire as well. "Which flavors do you three want?" Chika asked. "We have chicken, turkey, and I think that one over there might be hawk, but that one's kinda hard to find so I'm not too sure." As she said each flavor, she pointed to one of the apples hovering over the fire.

"What about those two?" Relena asked, pointing to the two apples over the fire that Chika hadn't pointed out.

"Those are beef," Piyomon answered, his wings crossed over his chest as he nodded. "They're ours."

"Why?" Tsukaimon asked.

Yuka smiled at him. She and her partner had the same idea about food. Food was food, even if good food was better than okay food.

"Piyomon and I don't eat bird," Chika answered, and Yuka figured that Chika wasn't going to say anything more than that.

"But its an apple," Tsukaimon pointed out.

Yuka giggled a bit and ran her fingers through his fur.

"We just don't like how it tastes," Piyomon and Chika answered at the same time. The two of them turned to look at each other and smiled.

After a few more minutes, the apples were cooked and passed around.

Tsukaimon happily munched on the chicken flavored apple. Yuka wondered how well it tasted to him and if she could get out of that favor she promised him before.

"Where's the nearest port from here anyway?" Yuka asked in between bites of turkey-apple.

Relena sighed. "It's in Yokohoma, isn't it?" Relena asked. "Are we really going to manage to get to File Island from there?"

Chika sighed. "We'll have to be careful. Yokohoma, in general, isn't friendly to most digimon."

"It's why DATS HQ had to be moved," Piyomon added. "The people there don't trust DATS, too many regained memories of digimon attacks from before the worlds fused. Even if it was government sponsored, a lot of people were annoyed with having their memories tampered with, and held DATS responsible for it."

"We'll have to be careful, having Piyomon evolve is a sure-fire way to get chased out by an angry mob," Chika said, sighing. "If only the government there still supported DATS..."

"Didn't the national government allow Yokohoma to not have DATS do any operations in it?" Relena asked, before she took a bite out of her apple.

Piyomon nodded. "At the time, fighting the city government and the citizens on it wasn't something the national government could deal with while everything else was happening."

Chika sighed and shook her head. "We should be fine if a fight doesn't break out or anyone realizes were in DATS," she said. "That means were going to have to see someone before we get a ship."

"Why?" Yuka asked. What Chika just said didn't make much sense to her.

"My DATS uniform isn't going to keep our profile down," Chika explained. "Also, please don't mention your last names, or mine." She paused, and sighed. "You should also avoid talking to me by name as much as possible. I'm probably too well known."

"But what should we call Chika-neechan!?" Tsukaimon asked.

Chika thought for a moment. "Just call me Neesan or Neechan in public. If that doesn't work,call me Kristy."

Relena sighed, and seemed like she was deep in thought. "Should we come up with fake names or something?"

Chika shook her head. "Just don't say your last names. You two aren't well known enough that a first name and partner digimon will give you away."

Chika cooked the other apples and after the group ate, the younger two went to sleep

.o0o.

Chika sighed as she watched the other two girls sleep peacefully. Yuka had her arms wrapped around Tsukaimon like a stuff toy, and the small child digimon didn't object to it at all. If anything, he loved it, snuggling as deep into Yuka's chest as he could go. If only she and Piyomon could go back to being that innocent...

The young woman shook her head. Now was not the time to think thoughts like that. Her life was how it was, and she'd have to deal with just like everyone else.

She turned her head to look over at Relena, who shuddered suddenly. The teenager curled up into a ball, and whispered a word that made Chika freeze for a moment.

She turned to look at Piyomon. "Keep an eye on them for me, alright?" she asked.

Piyomon gave her a look and nodded. He knew her well enough by now to be able to tell everything when it was bothering her.

Chika brought herself to her feet and walked away from the campsite, determined to clear her head.

She couldn't stay there, not when Relena was calling out for her father in her sleep.


	4. Old Friends and the Past

_Chika looked around, completely confused. This wasn't right. Piyomon said they were in the Digital World..._

So why was her hometown visible right in front of them?

She turned to Piyomon, only to see him just as confused as she was. "But we're in the Digital World..."  


_The young girl looked down and tightened her grip on the digiegg that she had found._

Suddenly, there was a sound of a twig breaking from behind the two of them. Chika spun around, and saw two kids her age. One a girl with... violet hair?... and the other a blond boy, standing behind her. Both of them looked shocked. She let out a smile, trying to calm them down. "Hi. I'm Chika! It's nice to meet you two!"

Piyomon sighed and walked up to them. "Are you two alright!?"

A ball of air shot towards Piyomon, and Chika and her partner turned to see a rather large flying hamster thing with orangish fur. "Stay away from them!"  
  
The Yokohoma outskirts sure held some memories.

Chika turned to Yuka and Relena, who were bickering as usual. She let out a sigh. "Stop that. We don't want to draw unnecessary attention once we go in."

Piyomon had already gone on ahead, so it was time for her to bring the youngsters in, and time to go visit an old friend.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams  
Written by: CustomMagnum

Chapter 04: Old Friends and the Past

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Bandai and Toei Animation. No profit is being made off this work.

.o0o.

Yuka looked around the city, doing her best to seem like a normal kid. Tsukaimon was in her digivice, shoved into the little small box that was its screen.

Tsukaimon took every moment to make his displeasure with it known, his face pressed against the screen like a little kid trying to go through a window.

Yuka was just as annoyed with this arrangement as her partner was. Chika-neesan wasn't making Piyomon hide in her digivice, so why did she have to hide Tsukaimon?

Relena must've noticed how annoyed she was with the whole thing. "Try to calm down and relax. We don't want anyone to know were not from here."

Yuka snorted and sent Relena a glare. Like a girl wearing a large cape covering her front wasn't going to attract any attention from the locals.

Chika sighed from behind the two of them. "Will you two please stop fighting until we get to where were headed a least!?

Yuka turned back to look at the young woman. Chika's eyes were darting all over the place, like every other time she had looked back at Chika since the last night. Yuka couldn't tell why the caution was necessary, the people here might hate DATS and Digimon, but they didn't seem to notice that Chika was actually in a DATS uniform at the moment.

Well, they had been taking side roads and alleyways the entire time, so they didn't see too many people. But still, Yuka thought that Chika was acting extremely paranoid.

Finally, the group came to a house in the suburbs that looked vaguely familiar to Yuka, but the young girl couldn't place where she had seen it before.

Chika walked up to the door and knocked quickly. After a moment, the door opened, revealing a woman with shoulder length violet hair, dressed in a plain white shirt and black skirt. "Chika-san?" the woman asked, her eyes wide.

Chika sighed, a small smile gracing her face. "It's nice to see you again, Miyako-kun."

The woman smiled, opening the door wider and stepping to the side. "Come in."

They walked in, Chika coming in last and closing the door behind her. She then turned to Yuka. "You can let Tsukaimon out for now."

Yuka smiled and grabbed her digivice, the screen facing her palm. "Tsukaimon! Realize!"

With that command, Tsukaimon appeared in a flash of light and promptly fell to the ground, letting out a small squeal of pain.

Yuka bent down to her partner. "You okay?"

"Idiot," Yuka heard Relena whisper. The young girl turned around and fired a glare at the teenager. "You take that back!"

"Calm down you two!" Chika ordered, moving in between the two girls.

Yuka wasn't happy to hear Chika just ignore the insult to her partner like that, but she didn't say anything. She just turned around and looked away from Relena. Her eyes scanned the inside of the house, and the layout seemed familiar like the outside, but she couldn't place the furniture at all. It was weird.

"So," Miyako began. "What brings a famous DATS member back to Yokohoma?"

Chika sighed and shook her head. "Well, we need to find a ferry to File Island, but before that we kinda need to borrow some clothes from you."

Yuka heard Miyako groan, and she turned around. The violet haired woman was shaking her head, and her fingers were lightly massaging her forehead. "You do realize how hard that's going to be, right?"

Chika nodded. "It can't be avoided. The nearest port that can take us directly to DATS HQ right now is on the other side of the country," Chika paused to send a glance over at Relena, who didn't seem to notice, or care. "We really don't have that kind of time to waste."

Miyako's gaze followed Chika's, and the woman blinked. "Is she Touma-san's sister?"

"I am," Relena answered. "But why does that matter?"

Miyako turned back to Chika. "What's she doing over here!?"

"That's Kurata's fault," Chika said, her small smile replaced by a frown.

Miyako let out a deep breath and clenched her fists. "And the other girl?"

"She's Noguchi Yuka," Chika answered. "In her case, she and her partner sneaked out."

Yuka and Tsukaimon both gulped when they heard that.

Miyako shook her head. "Geez..." The woman paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. "Fine, I'll help. We're around the same size now, and some of my old clothes should fit those two."

"Thank you, Miyako-kun," Chika said. Yuka looked over at her, and Chika's eyes suddenly seemed to widen. "Where's Ken-kun?"

"He's down at the precinct," Miyako answered, leading the group deeper into her home. "There's been a lot of activity outside the city lately. A lot digimon have been sighted outside the city limits. The city council's worried they're going to try something."

"Were they a bunch of Goblimon lead by an Ogremon?" Yuka asked.

Miyako shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe. While my husband does keep me up to date on some things, right now that's not one of them."

"Well, if they are than Chika-neesan and Piyomon already took care of them!" Yuka bragged.

Miyako blinked at her and looked over at Chika. "Really?" She then shook her head. "You know what? I shouldn't even be surprised at what you do anymore." She dropped her hand back down to her side. "Anyway, feel free to make yourselves at home."

The four of them walked into the living room. As soon as Yuka stepped in it Tsukaimon flew out of her hands on onto the couch, sighing happily. She saw Relena grab the remote and turned the T.V. on to some anime before sitting down on the far end of the couch. Yuka went and sat down next to her partner, who was now curled up on the cushion, reminding Yuka of a little puppy.

"Where's Piyomon?" Yuka heard Miyako ask to Chika.

"He's looking for a ship".

"Shouldn't you be doing that? Its dangerous for a digimon to do anything alone in this city."

"Well, when I pointed that out he reminded me that we really don't have a choice. Kurata's after Relena."

Yuka's eyes widened and darted quickly to Relena. who was looking at her out of the corner of her eyes. The blonde then shook her head and turned back to the TV.

It was then that the young girl realized that she was being too obvious in her listening.

"Are you two sure about that?" Miyako asked.

"Yeah."

"That man's the cause for everything thats happened," Miyako commented bitterly, before her voice got sweeter sounding. "Do you three want anything?"

Yuka turned around and saw both women standing with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Just lunch," Relena answered. "We haven't eaten since last night."

Yuka nodded, as her stomach growled. She blushed. "Same here".

Tsukaimon just let out a sound that sounded like agreement.

"Alright, well go order something before we do anything else, Chika said, before she and Miyako turned and went into another room.

Yuka went to get off the couch, but was stopped when Relena told her not to bother following them. "Why?" she asked. The teenager really got on her nerves sometimes. "They might be discussing something else thats important."

"Yeah, and this time they actually care about us hearing about it," Relena answered. "Otherwise they would've just gone into the kitchen over there to make something." She pointed to the kitchen that was connected to the family room they were currently in.

Yuka shot Relena a glare, not caring that she had been doing this much more often since she snuck out of the base to rescue her. "But why do they want to keep stuff from us?"

"Maybe because were only here because we got kidnapped by bandits?" Relena asked, before turning back to the T.V., obviously not expecting an answer from Yuka.

Yuka groaned, and leaned back into the couch, her head resting on the soft backrest. What could they do now that Chika-neesan didn't want them to know something?

.o0o.

Later, after eating and having Miyako throw clothes at the three them until they found something that would fit; Yuka and the others found themselves heading to the port.

"I hate this thing!" Tsukaimon mumbled from inside the digivice.

Yuka sighed, making sure that the digivice was hidden in the pocket of the old but functional jeans she was wearing. "It's just until we're out of here."

"But I don't like it!"

Chika chuckled a bit, before turning serious again. "Alright, be quiet now."

Yuka turned to look at the older woman, who was wearing a purple tank top with black spandex-like shorts, and didn't seem to enjoy wearing them. The young girl then turned around again, and noticed a group of people in front of them. She gulped and hoped they wouldn't be recognized by anybody, even if Chika was really the only person who was well known.

"Stop acting so nervous," Relena whispered at her.

Yuka sent a quick glare over at the blonde, frowning as she realized that was the third time that she'd done that today at least.

Relena giggled a bit a Yuka's reaction, the sky blue dress she was dressed in moving tightly with her body.

Yuka turned away, and the three of them went and approached a nearby sailor. She just hoped that Chika knew what she was doing.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to know where most of these ships are headed to?" Chika asked, her voice laced with politeness that Yuka only really heard in the woman's voice when she was speaking to her mother or someone higher ranked than her.

The man looked over at Chika for a few moments, and Yuka could see his eyes moving up and down. He then took a quick look at Relena and herself, before turning his attention back to Chika. "Most of these ships are headed out of the country," the man replied. "They're cargo ships for the most part though, so they don't usually take passengers. Well, except for the eight brats who are headed to File Island, but I think a group of nice girls like you would want to stay away from them. Especially with your younger sibling with you."

Chika blinked. "Really?" she asked. "Do you know why they're going there?"

The man shrugged. "Why should I know or care? But they're nuts, going to a place crawling with digimon like that. And those strange devices that they had, if I hadn't seen DATS digivices before I'd swear they were DATS agents." The man's voice just leaked hatred with those last words.

Chika's eyes narrowed a bit, although the man didn't seem to notice. "Thank you sir, we'll keep that in mind," she said, bowing quickly before leading Yuka and Relena away from him.

Yuka looked over at Chika. "Why are there other DATS agents here?" she asked, figuring Chika would know why.

Chika just shushed her, putting a finger to the young girls lips. "You'll give us away!" she whispered, removing her finger and looked over at them. "I'm not sure though. We should probably check it out." She looked around, and suddenly turned around. The young woman started walking over to a pile of cargo crates that didn't have anyone near them, and Yuka and Relena followed her.

"What's wrong?" Relena asked as the three of them walked behind the crates.

"Nothing," Chika answered. "We just need a secluded space to meet with Piyomon." She looked up to the sky.

Eventually a figured descended from the sky, causing Yuka to almost cry out in shock. She heard Chika tell her to relax, and it wasn't long before she realized that the figure was Piyomon.

Piyomon sighed, looking over at Yuka. "Sorry about that, I needed to make sure I wasn't seen by anyone."

"You almost gave the kid here a heart attack," Relena commented.

Yuka didn't even bother to turn around and glare at Relena this time, even as her fists clenched.

"Stop baiting each other for five seconds, will you?" Chika asked. She then turned her attention to Piyomon. "Did you find a ship willing to go to File Island?"

Piyomon nodded. "Yeah, there's a small boat manned by seven kids around Relena's age and one about the same age as Yuka. I don't think they're part of DATS though, even with those strange devices that they have."

"That explains why I didn't know they would be here," Chika said, her hand massaging her chin. "Do you think they can be trusted?"

Piyomon was silent for a few moments, deep in thought. "I think they can be trusted to take us to File Island, but I'm not sure if they can be trusted to keep our involvement a secret. They weren't exactly hiding where they were going."

Chika nodded. "Well, as long as we don't mention our full names or my real name at all we should be fine."

Yuka blinked. It seemed like they had way too easy a time finding a potential ship to take them where they needed to go. She didn't mention this out loud though. If she could think of it, Chika probably already did.

"Do you know when they're leaving, Piyomon?" Relena asked.

He nodded. "They're leaving in a couple of days."

Chika groaned and Yuka turned to look at her. "We're going to need to check into a hotel then." The young girl saw Relena give Chika a confused look. Chika turned slightly to Relena, and seemed to notice it too. "We're trying to stay hidden, and using any of our credit cards to pay for the rooms would reveal that were related to DATS."

"Why don't we go back to Miyako-san's?" Yuka asked.

Piyomon, Chika, and Relena all turned their attention over to her. "We can't impose on her that much!" Relena shouted.

"Are there any other pro-digimon people in Yokohoma that you know about?" Yuka asked.

Chika shook her head.

"Yuka does have a point," Piyomon said. "Miyako is pretty much our only option."

Chika sighed and shook her head, her hand going up to her forehead and gently brushing against her bandanna for a moment. "Alright, we'll go and ask Miyako if we can stay."

.o0o.

"Thanks again, Miyako-kun!" Chika said as they once again ended up at Miyako's place.

"It's nothing," Miyako said. "It isn't like Ken's going to be one to complain."

After saying that, Yuka saw Chika look around the house. "Where is Ken-kun? Still at the precinct?"

Miyako nodded.

Yuka decided to look around a bit as Tsukaimon rested happily in her arms. "That digivice is uncomfortable," she heard her partner say. She looked down at him and smiled.

Relena looked over at Chika. "How long is it going to take Piyomon to get here?"

Chika turned to Relena. "He'll be here as soon as we open a door upstairs." And as soon as she said that, the woman ran to the stairwell.

Yuka was pretty confused there. "Where's she going?" It didn't look like Chika was lost or anything, but with the anti-DATS state Yokohoma was in, she doubted Chika could have come here that often.

"Probably to her old room," Miyako answered.

Yuka's eyes widened. "This used to be Chika-neesan's house!"

Miyako nodded. "I have the feeling she never really wanted to leave. If this place hadn't gotten so anti-DATS around five years ago, she probably wouldn't have."

"Poor Chika-neechan," Tsukaimon said sadly.

Yuka stroked her partner's fur absent-mindedly. She knew that DATS used to have the Japan base here, but she didn't realize that meant that Chika used to live here also.

A few seconds later Chika and Piyomon came down from the stairs. "Are you sure its alright to stay here?" the digimon asked.

The older woman nodded. "It's fine. Besides, Yuka and Relena should give me some practice for the next decade."

Chika and Piyomon looked over at Miyako, and the younger woman's eyes were open wide. "You're having a baby!?"

Miyako nodded, a goofy smile on her face.

Chika's face broke into a wide grin and before Yuka even knew it, Chika was hugging Miyako tightly. "How far along are you!? Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

Yuka looked over at Chika and blinked. She couldn't remember Chika-neesan acting like a little kid in a candy store about anything since well... ever.

"One question at a time Chika!" Miyako exclaimed, but her face still had a smile.

"Oh," Chika said, blushing as she released her friend from her embrace. "I'm really happy for you, Miyako! I need to visit you more though!"

Miyako laughed. "You always did go gaga over babies."

Chika's blush deepened and Piyomon nodded. "You should've seen her ten years ago before the fusion when she was helping me take care of the baby digimon."

Chika turned to her partner. "And you should've seen me taking care of you."

Piyomon blushed.

"Isn't it going to be hard for you to visit though," Miyako said, ignoring Piyomon and Chika's little side conversation. "I mean, you're in DATS and Ken and I aren't."

Chika frowned. "I'm sorry, Miyako-kun."

Miyako sighed and shook her head. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault."

"But..."

Piyomon coughed, and Chika turned her eyes to look at him. Yuka then saw the older woman looking over at her and Relena.

Chika laughed faintly. "Maybe we should get something to eat."

Miyako's cooking was delicious, and it wasn't long after dinner that Yuka, Relena, and Tsukaimon went off to bed.

But for some reason, Yuka couldn't fall asleep. She knew that Chika-neesan was hiding something, and it bothered her, even though she knew that everyone had they're secrets. Since Chika-neesan was a DATS agent, she should have more secrets to keep than most people.

But it still bothered her.

The young girl brought herself out of bed, and started heading towards the kitchen. She needed a drink of water.

"It's nice to see you again, Chika", a man's voice said downstairs. Yuka thought that it was probably Miyako's husband; this Ken-kun Chika was talking about earlier. She moved closer to the stairs, she was pretty curious and her drink could wait a bit.

"It's nice to see you too, Ken-kun," Chika's voice replied. "Congrats on the baby."

"Thanks," Ken said. "How many days are you here for?"

"At least a few," Miyako's voice answered for Chika. "They need to wait for a ship to leave to File Island."

There was silence for a moment. Finally, Ken spoke up. "Be careful, File Island's still controlled by Devimon, even if he did decide to make it a neutral area in the conflicts."

"And a resort," Miyako commented.

"Even so," Ken continued. "It may be a safe haven for now, but that can change at any time."

"You know, I wouldn't expect someone almost partnered to a virus digimon to be prejudiced against them, Ken-kun," Chika teased.

Yuka thought that was interesting. Ken, and probably Miyako, had almost been in DATS.

"I'm just speaking the truth," Ken replied. "Besides, you know about Takeru's history with Devimon."

"That's something between Takeru-kun, Patamon, and Devimon," Chika shot back. "None of us are part of it."

Ken laughed. "True. But really, Takeru is your friend, right?"

"That doesn't mean we have to help each other in our personal vendettas that we don't want help in!" Chika shouted.

"What's Takeru-kun been up to anyway?" Miyako asked.

Chika sighed. "He's been pretty busy, being a combat instructor for the DATS Trainees," she answered. "He's probably going to be really annoyed at Yuka once we get back."

"That's good. Didn't see him doing that, but its nice to see that at least he's doing well," Ken answered.

There was silence for a moment. "What about the digimon around the city?" Miyako asked.

"They're still around, but there are a lot of angel digimon among them now," Ken answered.

Chika cursed. "That explains what Dominimon was doing around this area then."

"You're sure it was him? I mean, one of the six generals of the Virus Busters being out here?" Miyako asked.

"Yeah," Chika answered. "He tried to get Piyomon to join him again."

No one said anything for a moment. Obviously Ken and Miyako were kept somewhat in the DATS loop, even if they weren't agents. Finally, Ken spoke up again. "This isn't good. I'm going to have to go and report this information tomorrow."

"But that'll give Chika away!" Miyako protested, and Yuka's heart sank. If that happened, they would probably be kicked out of Yokohoma.

"Don't worry about it," Chika said.

"I'll tell my bosses that it's a source I trust," Ken said. "Chika's name wont be brought up, although now I guess its a good thing neither Miyako nor I joined DATS."

"I'm sorry you two," Chika began, "because of me Hawkmon was..."

"It wasn't your fault!" Miyako shouted, followed by a loud slapping sound that made Yuka's eyes widen. "That was Kurata! He's the one to blame for everything!"

"But if it weren't for me, he'd be alive!"

"And you'd be dead instead!"

Yuka heard Piyomon sigh. "I always tell her this, but she never listens."

"Piyomon..." Chika said, her voice dripping with sadness.

"I loved Hawkmon like he was my son, but what happened to him was not your fault!" Piyomon exclaimed. "Let's just focus on Dominimon and Kurata for now, alright!?"

"...Okay."

Yuka turned away, and started heading back towards the guest room. Her drink of water was forgotten.

That was when Relena's scream pierced through the silence.


	5. Unnerving Memory

_Relena couldn't believe it. She was finally better! The young girl brought herself out of the bed she was laying in and stretched her legs. She felt like she could run for a mile now without stopping once. She couldn't wait to tell V-mon about this. Maybe now they could do something together other than watch T.V. or play video games now! It would be great!_

Relena walked over to the door of the room, stumbling a bit. She was still a little unsteady on her legs due to never walking for a long bit of time before. The doctors and her father all said that she should take it easy, but she wanted to find V-mon. There was some seriously playing that needed to be done to make up for three years of being wheelchair bound.

Relena heard a crash from far away, and her head snapped in the direction of it. In a few moments, the girl's eyes widened. That was where her father was! She ran in the direction of the sound, not caring that she almost tripped a few times as her bare feet pressed against the tile of the hospital floor.

Even so, it didn't take her long to get to the room where her father was. The young girl crashed into the slightly open door as hard as she could, it whipping back from force of her body. Relena fell to the ground, and quickly used her arms to lift herself up, her eyes darting around the room.

Relena's eyes widened as she saw her father's bloodly body laying in the middle of the room, beak like gashes decorating his exposed flesh. A digimon was standing over his body. It had four legs, and its talons and the glistening helmet with the heart-shaped symbol on it covered in blood. Her father's blood.

Relena let out a scream, her body shaking

"Relena!" her brother's voice shouted from behind her, but Relena didn't hear it, focused solely on the now retreating bird creature, her fists clenching and her teeth grating together...

"RELENA!"

"RELENA!"

Relena's eyes snapped opened and she shot out of the bed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Father..." was all she managed to whisper before throwing herself into the nearest person's arms.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams  
Written by CustomMagnum  
Chapter 05: Unnerving memory

Disclaimer: Digimon and all related characters belong to Toei Animation and Bandai. This story is written without permission and for non-profit reasons.

.o0o.

Yuka looked on in confusion as the weeping teenager threw herself into Chika's arms, tears streaming down her cheeks. Relena was a wreck, and kept mumbling something that Yuka thought sounded like "father". She saw Chika wrap her arms around the young girl, her arms moving slowly and awkwardly, as if she was unfamiliar with doing things like this. But that didn't make sense; Yuka remembered Chika being able to comfort her when something bad happened. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Relena had a nightmare. Yuka never remembered having one of those before.

Either way, Chika looked like she didn't want to be there holding a crying Relena. Yuka thought that Relena was a brat, but even she wouldn't mind hugging her after something happened. "What's wrong, Chika-neesan?"

Chika shushed her, and slowly ran her hands down Relena's back. "It's alright. It was just a dream. It's over now Relena." The blonde haired girl just kept sobbing into Chika's chest, her body shaking.

Yuka had no idea what she should do. Should she try to help Chika calm Relena down or should she just sit her and watch, staying out of it?

Tsukaimon apparently decided to chose the former, flying a little closer to the two of them. There was a worried look on his face. "What happened to Relena's dad?" he asked.

Asking that just seemed to make Relena cry even harder, and Chika glared at the small digimon. Tsukaimon backed away, and Yuka decided to not bother trying to do anything after that. Chika-neesan knew what she was doing. The young girl saw Chika turn her attention towards the door. "Miyako-kun, can you go make her some tea?"

"Alright, what kind?" Miyako answered from outside the room.

Chika didn't say anything for a moment, but her hand moved up to rub Relena's head soothingly. "Earl Grey," she answered after a moment. "It's her favorite."

Yuka turned to look at Miyako just in time to see her nod and head back down the stairs. After thinking about it for a moment, Yuka up and followed the woman. Chika didn't say anything to her as she left the room.

Yuka went down the stairs and headed to Miyako's kitchen, where the woman had started to boil some water for the tea. "Do you know what's up with Relena?"

Miyako jumped suddenly, and turned to look at Yuka before sighing in relief. "Oh, its you."

Yuka frowned. "What's up with Relena?" she asked again. Not being told anything was really starting to get annoying.

Miyako looked away from the young girl. "It really isn't my place to say."

"Does it have anything to do with her being a Bio-Hybrid?"

Miyako's head snapped back to give Yuka a wide-eyed look. "You know about that?" After a moment, the woman sighed. "You really shouldn't blurt out things like that. Few people know about Relena's state for a reason."

"Is that why shes having that bad a nightmare?" Yuka demanded. She needed answers, and no one seemed like they wanted to give them up. That was too bad for them.

Miyako's eyes narrowed; obviously the woman was starting to get annoyed. "At least partly, but it isn't my place to tell you." The tea kettle started whistling and Miyako turned her attention back to it. She pulled it off the stove and poured some of the boiling water into a mug before sticking a tea bag in it.

Yuka frowned, but turned when she heard steps behind her. She saw that Chika had brought Relena down the stairs and led her to the table. Relena had stopped sobbing, but her body was still shaking a little bit. A few moments later, and Miyako set the finished cup of tea down in front of the teenage girl.

Relena let out a weak "thank you," before taking a sip of the tea.

Yuka turned to Chika. "Is she alright?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Relena shoot her a glare. She could take those easily though, so she ignored it.

Before Chika could even answer her, Relena shouted "I dreamed about the night my father was murdered, alright!?"

Yuka's eyes widened as she heard that. She turned to look at the other girl, seeing tears dropping out of her eyes. She heard Chika sigh, and then felt a hand press against her shoulder. Yuka turned her head to see Chika looking at her with a pensive look on her face. "Come with me," she said, before dragging Yuka back to the stairwell.

Once they were out of Relena's earshot, Chika released her grip on Yuka's shoulder. Yuka blinked and looked over at the older woman. "What was that for?" the young girl asked.

Chika sighed. "I'm going to answer some of your questions, but I don't want to upset Relena anymore than the nightmare already has."

Yuka blinked. It seemed almost too good to be true, but she was finally going to get some answers.

"Relena's father was murdered around six years ago," Chika began, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead with the tips of her fingers, her fingertips brushing against the headband that rested there. "It was right after she was turned into a Bio-Hybrid to save her life. The man who did it used her partner to do the operation."

Yuka gasped. How could Relena act the way she didn't normally with something like that having happened to her?

The young girl also realized just how much of a jerk she must've seemed to Relena back in Jureimon's forest, and let out a sigh.

Chika's eyes opened again and looked down at Yuka. "The murder was covered up, so not many people below a certain rank in DATS know about it," Chika continued. "You can't tell anyone else what you know, even Tsukaimon."

Yuka nodded automatically. While Tsukaimon was like a second brother to her, he was a blabbermouth. "Do you know who did it?"

Chika turned away from her and stayed silent. Yuka figured that at this point, she probably shouldn't push any harder for more answers.

"It was a Holsmon", Relena's voice said from behind them.

Yuka and Chika both turned around at the same time to see the teenage girl standing in the area between the stairwell and the family room, a man that Yuka didn't recognize standing beside her. Relena's hands were balled into fists.

"I'm going to kill him the next time I see him!" Relena spat. "I swear it!"

Chika and the man both sighed. "Revenge isn't going to make you feel better Relena."

The man looked over at Chika. "Speaking from experience Chika-chan?"

"Shut up Ken-kun!" Chika shouted, and Yuka could imagine the glare that Chika was sending the man's way. Yuka blinked as she realized that this was Miyako's husband, but what did he mean?

Ken turned back to look at Relena. "She is right though, revenge won't make you feel better."

Relena quickly shot glares and both the adults. "Don't tell me that! You guys didn't walk in a room to find you father's bloody corpse!"

Yuka turned to look at Chika and realized there were tears in the young woman's eyes as she looked over at Relena, but Yuka could figure out why. Unless Chika also came across her father's body and was reliving the memory, except that couldn't be it. Everyone knew that Daimon Suguru had been killed in the battle against Yggdrasill ten years ago...

After a few more moments, Chika shook her head. "Never mind," she turned her attention back to Ken. "We're going to have to check with that ship later today. We should probably get to File Island as soon as possible."

Ken looked over at her. "You that worried?"

Yuka saw Chika nod. "I don't trust our luck in this city for long, no offense Ken. Especially with Relena being a Bio-Hybrid."

Ken winced. "That's probably a good idea. I remember stories from around ten years ago with how some kids were treated when people found out they were hybrids."

Chika looked at him oddly, but before Yuka could think about it the woman's face changed to a frown.

"Anyway, we should all try to get back to sleep now," Ken suggested.

Relena closed her eyes and her fists unclenched as she nodded.

Yuka sighed. "Okay." She knew that after all this, she could probably use the sleep.

.o0o.

The next morning, after breakfast, Yuka, Chika, Miyako, and Relena headed to the park for a bit.

"Why are we here?" Relena asked with a pout on her face. Yuka could see that the other girl's arms were crossed over each other in front of her chest.

Chika flashed a small smile at them. "I thought we could use the relaxation while Piyomon goes back to talk to the ones with the ship."

Yuka didn't know what to about that. It seemed like Piyomon was being really active for someone that should be hiding. The young girl patted her digivice, reminding herself that for now her partner was in there, trapped. Her lips curled downwards into a frown, but she didn't say anything. If Chika-neesan thought it was fine, then she'd listen, even if she didn't like it.

"You mean that I need to relax," Relena accused.

Chika didn't bother trying to deny it.

Relena sighed. "Fine, fine, I get the point."

"Relena..." Chika began, but was cut off.

"I don't need to hear it."

Yuka sighed and looked around the park; the peaceful scene of families spending a nice day together filling her view. She smiled, and wondered if the four of them seemed like sisters or something to anyone of those people she was watching. But even still, she felt naked her without her training gi, but Chika said that those were standard uniforms for DATS trainees and would be too recognizable.

Yuka was shaken out of her thoughts by a young girls cry of "Digimon!" At first, her eyes snapped around, thinking that Piyomon had been spotted.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

A large group of angel digimon garbed in blue and red were flying in the sky and landing all over the city, demanding its surrender at any nearby people.

Yuka turned to Chika. "What should we do!?"

"Calm down and follow me!" Chika ordered, turning around and sprinting. "Miyako! Call Ken and see if this is happening all over the city!"

Miyako nodded and pulled out her cellphone.

"Should I let Tsukaimon out?" Yuka asked as they ran. She was really happy now that her parents had let her join the DATS Agent Training program, otherwise she would probably end up being exhausted in a little bit.

"No!" Chika shouted. "We need to stay hidden for right now, and a virus type will just lure them to us!"

"But Chika-neesan!" They couldn't let the city be taken over, could they?

"That's an order Yuka!" Chika shouted, causing Yuka to stumble and flinch a bit at the tone of her voice. Shed never heard Chika speak like that ever. The young woman sounded terrified, like a mother seeing her youngest child go out to fight a demon bent on destroying the world.

"Yuka!" Relena shouted, stopping near her. "Keep running!"

Yuka started running again, not even bothering to send a glare over at Relena, or to say anything.  
She looked over at Miyako, who was still talking to Ken as she ran. "Okay." And with that, Miyako snapped the phone shut. "We have a problem."

All four of them stopped running, and Yuka realized that Chika had turned around to face the other woman. "What's going on?"

"The Angemon and Pidmon demanded that the city surrender and said that in return they wouldn't attack," Miyako began. "But if the city doesn't surrender, then they'll start killing until they do."

Yuka's eyes widened when she heard that. "What!?" She thought the Virus Busters only hated virus digimon.

"What are they after?" Chika asked. "Attacking an almost human only town doesn't make sense for them. The Virus Busters just want all virus digimon destroyed."

Yuka turned to Chika, and saw the young woman's eyes scanning the area. She copied Chika, but she saw nothing but trees. They were apparently deep enough in the park to lose the Angemon.

"Could Kurata be pulling a false flag operation?" Relena asked.

Yuka blinked and looked over at her. What the heck was that? And why did she feel like she should know that?

"Doubtful," Chika answered. "With the amount of power he has now, Kurata has no real need for secrecy. Also, if he still wanted Yokohoma now that DATS wasn't located here, he would've attacked it again years ago." A couple of moments later she sighed. "We're missing a lot of key pieces of the puzzle here." The woman then turned towards Miyako. "Can you get these two to the port?"

"But what about you?!" Relena and Yuka shouted at the same time, both of their fists clenched around their digivices.

Chika shook her head. "I'll meet up with Piyomon and we'll hold them off."

"But that's crazy!" Miyako shouted. "Even if you and Piyomon could last against these odds, the city's police force will attack you anyway!"

"That doesn't matter," Chika said. "Piyomon won't be able to stop himself from getting involved, and I have to help him." Yuka remembered that Piyomon always complained that it was the other way around, but said nothing.

"Then let us help!" Tsukaimon shouted from Yuka's digivice. The young girl unclipped it from her belt, agreeing with her partner.

"It's too dangerous for you two," Chika said. "I need you to stay and protect Miyako-san for me."

"But!" Yuka protested.

"Please!"

Relena sighed. "Alright".

Yuka turned and glared at her. "Relena!"

Relena sighed and turned to Yuka, her eyes narrowed. "We're not going to win Yuka," she said. "Every second we waste fighting her on is a second that the citizens aren't going to be protected by her."

Yuka didn't say anything in response to that, but she still frowned. She knew that Chika and Piyomon weren't going to be able to beat the army on their own.

"Thank you, Relena," Chika said.

"Just promise that you'll come back alive, okay?"

Yuka turned and saw Chika close her eyes for a moment. "Alright," she said, opening them. "Just head to the port and find the ship."

Relena nodded, and Yuka reluctantly copied her.

"Alright, lets get going," Miyako said, turning around. "The port's this way." And with that, the three of them started running. Yuka looked back and saw Chika run in the opposite direction.

After a moment, Yuka's eyes widened. "Wasn't Piyomon supposed to be at the port?"

"Chika knows Piyomon better than you do", Miyako answered. "Piyomon's probably already headed for their leader."

"But that's probably Dominimon!" Relena shouted. "There's no way that Garudamon can beat him."

The blood drained from Miyako's face, looking very white to Yuka. The woman stopped and shook her head. "That idiot, does she really think to..."

"Should we turn back?" Yuka asked, her arms shaking.

After a moment, Miyako shook her head. "No, you two need to get to File Island. We're sticking with the plan." And with that, she started running again, flipping open her cellphone. "Ken! I'm taking the girls to the port so they can get on the ship."

Yuka frowned, her hands balled into fists, and she felt her nails start to dig into her skin. "We cant leave Chika-neesan!"

Miyako ignored the girl's outburst. "What do you mean go with them!? What about you!?"

Relena let out a startled gasp and stopped running. Yuka and Miyako stopped also and the young girl looked up in the sky to see a group of three Angemon fly down and close in on them.

"Damn!" Yuka shouted, grabbing her digivice. "Tsukaimon! Realize!"

This time Tsukaimon flashed into existence and stayed into the air, his body already inflated like a balloon. "Purple Fog!" the small digimon shot out a hard sphere of purple gas into the nearest Angemon's chest, but it didn't do much.

"A virus!" One of the angels shouted. "Prepare to die, foul being!"

Yuka and Relena pressed their palms to their digivices at the same time, digisoul covering Yuka's hand and Relena's body.

"Digisoul Charge!"

"Hyper Bio Evolution!"

With both cries, Tsukaimon became Devidramon and Relena once again shifted into Bio Lighdramon.

Another of the angels sneered. "One of those things is here as well". The three angels gather golden energy in their fists. "Heaven's Knuckle!" The angels thrust their fists at the group, golden beams of energy leaping from their hands and speeding towards the two digimon.

"Dodge it!" Relena shouted, jumping back.

Devidramon took to the sky, and the energy beams sped into the ground, exploding and sending chunks of earth everywhere.

Yuka sneered as purple digisoul flared around her fist, but before she could throw a punch two of Angemon took to the sky after Devidramon, while the third went to attack the evolved Relena.

Relena jumped to the side to avoid having a staff go through her skull. Blue lightning crackled around her back, growing into a blue and red bolt, which shot towards the attacking angels chest with a cry of "Blue Thunder!"

The angel screamed as the lightning coursed through his body.

Devidramon was dodging repeated blasts of Heaven's Knuckle, twisting in the air as the beams flew at him. He fired off his own blasts of energy whenever he got the chance, but his aim was about as accurate as the angels he was facing.

Miyako kept the phone pressed against her ear. "We're around the movie theater now, but we were just attacked!"

The Angemon struck Relena with a sideways wing of his staff, knocking her back a bit. She staggered into Miyako, causing the older woman to fall backwards and her phone to go flying somewhere. "I should be stronger than this!" she shouted. Yuka saw blue lightning gather around the horn on the hybrids head. "Lightning Blade!" she shouted, slashing downwards with her head, the lightning blasting off in a downward arc, smashing into the Angemon and sending him stumbling back.

That was her opening. Yuka charged forward at the stumbling angel and punched him in the back with a digisoul-charged fist, knocking him forward. She then quickly jumped to the side just in time to avoid getting crushed by Relena, who had charged forward and pounced on the Angemon, knocking him to the ground.

Yuka looked on in awe as lightning crackled around Relenas horn once again. The Angemon had a shocked expression on his face as another blast of lightning slammed into him. The angel screamed as he burst into data, the only thing left of him being a small orange and white striped digiegg spinning under Relena's body.

Yuka looked up into the sky and saw Devidramon slam into another Angemon, swiping his claws at his chest. The flesh tore open with a spray of blood, and the angel screamed, falling to the ground.

The remaining Angemon quickly flew down and grabbed his comrade by the leg. He took a moment to look over at Relena and Devidramon, before flying away.

Devidramon landed and turned to Miyako. "What should we do now?"

Yuka pouted. Devidramon was her partner, he should be asking her for instructions! Even if Miyako was pretty much the leader at the moment, despite not being a DATS agent.

Miyako sighed, and looked around for a phone. Yuka followed her gaze, and realized that the phone was in many little irreparable pieces. "We keep heading to the harbor and get on that ship."

"Is Ken-san going to meet us there?" Yuka asked, turning back to look and Miyako, her eyes widening when she saw that Miyakos shirt was torn at the neck a bit.

And a slightly pink part of a symbol was visible on the exposed flesh.

Miyako shook her head. "He's a police officer, it'd be like Chika leaving a DATS defended area without orders." Miyako then seemed to notice Yuka's gaze and covered the pinkness up with her hand.

Devidramon glowed and devolved into Tsukaimon. He flew towards Yuka, who held out her digivice. The small digimon stopped in mid air, suddenly going very pale.

"I'm sorry, but we need to move fast," Yuka said.

Tsukaimon frowned as he was sucked into Yuka's digivice. Yuka was frowning also. "Do we even know if the ship is still there?"

Miyako shook her head. "We're just going to have to hope." She turned to Relena, who had stayed evolved. "Do you mind if we ride on your back?"

Relena didn't seem particularly impressed with that idea. After a few moments, she sighed. "Fine, but this wont become a habit."

Miyako nodded, and the Bio-Hybrid bent down. Miyako quickly climbed on her back.

Yuka looked at the two of them before sighing and getting on the Relena's back as well. "Hold on," she heard Relena say before she broke out into a run. The young girl wrapped her arms around Miyako's waist, desperately holding on as the bio-hybrid sped through the city.

"Turn here!" Miyako shouted after a bit and Relena obliged, sharply turning at the corner.

Yuka gasped as she looked around, seeing some angel digimon flying behind them. "Relena! We're being followed!"

"Thanks!"

A beam of light energy slammed into the road near them, sending up chucks of pavement in every direction. Yuka buried her face in Miyako's back as she felt Relena sprint faster, running out of sight of the attacking angels.

At least, that's what Yuka hoped...


	6. Needed Vacation

It, in fact, did not turn out at all like Yuka had hoped.

They had reached the harbor, only to find that a large group of the Angemon and Pidmon were already there. For some reason they were guarding all of the ships. Either they needed them for some reason... or they were after them and didn't want them to escape.. Relena let out a curse, quickly running out of view of the angels.

Miyako and Yuka quickly dismounted from Relena's back. Yuka turned and noticed that the bio-hybrid didn't look particularly happy.

"What should we do now?" Tsukaimon asked from inside Yuka's digivice.

Yuka clenched her fist. "We need to get out of here." She turned away from Relena as the bio-hybrid gave her a look that she was pretty sure wasn't meant for her to take as a compliment.

"Even so, I don't see any real way we can do it," Miyako said. "I doubt Devidramon and Relena can take out an army."

"We need Chika-neechan and Piyomon!" Tsukaimon exclaimed.

"But we don't know where they are," Relena pointed out. There was a sudden explosion from the center of the city. "...Okay, now we just need to get over there."

Miyako shook her head. "If we can sneak in, we might be able to get onto one of the ships and leave."

"Angemon can fly!" Yuka pointed out. "We'd be attacked by them in an instant!"

"So, our best bet seems to be to go back and find Chika," Relena commented. She had already bent down. Yuka realized that Relena wanted the two of them back on her back about the same instant that hybrid shouted "Come on!"

"We still don't know if that'll work!" Miyako said. "Just wait a moment."

"Well then, what are we supposed to do?" Relena shouted.

It took about two more seconds for the Angemon and Pidmon to swarm them. Yuka sent a glare over at Relena as she grabbed her digivice. But she quickly realized that even if she released Tsukaimon that they would still only end up dead. The girl's violet digisoul flared up in her fist as she crouched down, prepared to leap and attack the nearest of the angel digimon--

But before she could, Relena launched a large blast of lightning over the angel swarm. "Release Tsukaimon!"

Yuka nodded, and immediately slammed her hand on top of her digivice.

Tsukaimon appeared back in the world as Devidramon and immediately charged at the nearest angel digimon and swiped at him with his claws.

Yuka made a fist again, her digisoul re-igniting around it. "Let's show these guys who we are bro!" The young girl leaped forward and sent her fist slamming into one of the angel's stomach. She smirked as she heard the angel gasp out in surprise and pain and saw him stumble back a bit.

Relena charged forward, lightning coursing through her claws and teeth as she slashed and bit any of the enemies that she came close to.

Yuka threw out punch after punch at the angel digimon swarm, but it seemed that for every one of them that Devidramon or Relena either seriously injured or even killed another one took its place. "Did the Virus Busters send its entire army here or something?!" she shouted.

"I'm starting to wonder about that myself," Relena admitted in between blasting the angels with her lightning. "I know it takes a large force to capture a city, but this seems ridiculous!"

Yuka took a moment to look back over at Miyako. The woman wasn't hurt, even if she was in shock at what they were doing. It seemed like the angels were focusing everything on her, Devidramon, and Relena.

Thank Yggdrasil for small favors.

But this fight was going nowhere, and Yuka knew that she needed to contribute more to it. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, her digisoul erupting around her feet and other fist. She suddenly felt herself dodging swings and sending out return punches way faster than she had before. It wasn't as good as having it appear over her entire body, but it was working. She saw a nearby Angemon aiming his fist at Devidramon. Yuka ran forward and jumped into the air, planting both feet into the angel's back. The angel stumbled forward, screaming in pain.

Devidramon looked over at the Angemon Yuka had sent staggering forward. The dragon fired off his red eye beams at the same time that Relena had decided to blast him with a lightning blast. Both attacks hit the angel in the stomach.

The Angemon let out a raw scream, before exploding into data particles. The data swirled around for a moment before forming into a digiegg that landed on the ground where he had been standing.

Yuka panted heavily as her digisoul vanished from her limbs. At that same time, Devidramon and Relena both collapsed and devolved.

They had lost.

One of the Angemon grabbed Tsukaimon by one hand, the other glowing with a golden glow

"Tsukaimon!" Yuka shouted, pointing her digivice at the small child digimon. The digivice sent out a beam which zapped her partner, sucking him inside it. She smiled in relief, before collapsing on the ground...

...and then she knew no more.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams  
Chapter 6: Needed Vacation

Written by Custom Magnum

Disclaimer: Digimon is owned by Toei Animation and Bandai, and no profit is being made off of this work.

.o0o.

"_Tsukaimon!" Yuka shouted, seeing one of the approaching child digimon hit her little brother in the face. She glared at them, her blood fire in her veins. "STOP IT!"_

_"Why should we!?" A nearby digimon, a Patamon, shouted. He looked just like Tsukaimon except that he had orange fur instead of purple. "A no good virus like this doesn't belong here!" The digimon inflated like a balloon and spat a sphere of air at Tsukaimon, knocking him into a wall._

_Yuka struggled against the two boys who were holding her back. "Stop messing with my brother!" She shouted through clenched teeth._

_One of the boys laughed. "Your brother? You're just as crazy as Niisan says your real brother is, Noguchi-chan. This is for your own good."_

_The eight-year-old just stomped on the bigoted bastard's foot. When he let go and screamed, Yuka used her now free hand to deck the other one in the face. She vaguely realized that there was a purple glow around her fist, but she didn't care. The boy let go of her arm as he went flying backwards._

_Yuka ran up to the digimon and smashed her fist against the Patamon's nose, sending it flying back. She quickly went over to Tsukaimon, scooping him up in her arms, before running._

_  
"Get the bitch and kill the virus!" the boy who she punched shouted._

_Yuka ran as fast as she could, a scowl on her face. Why were those jerks doing that to her brother!? She looked back to make sure she wasn't about to get tackled or something, so she didn't see the person she ran into._

_"Yuka! Whats wrong?" Chika-neesan asked. "Are you alright Yuka!?"_

_Yuka smiled and began to say something  
_  
Which was when her eyes snapped open. The young girl realized that she wasn't eight anymore, and that more relevant, they were no longer in Yokohoma.

She was in the sky, on Aquilamon's back, her head resting on Chika's lap. "...What happened?"

"You passed out from the stress of fighting that many Angemon," Chika answered, sounding rather relieved. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"What about Tsukaimon!?"

"He's asleep and still in your digivice."

Yuka smiled and closed her eyes again. "That's good." She wanted to keep them closed for almost a week.

"Glad to see that you don't care much about me," Yuka heard Relena comment. She didn't even bother opening her eyes. She just mumbled incoherently, even she couldn't understand what she was saying back at the girl. Maybe two weeks would be a better idea.

"You didn't ask about her either Relena," Yuka heard Miyako point out. The young girl giggled at that, before she fell asleep again.

.o0o.

When Yuka next woke up, she was in a bed that felt really soft and fluffy. Tsukaimon was curled up by her chest and snoring. Rather loudly, actually.

It was odd being up before him, now that she thought about it. Usually she was woken up by him jumping on her chest like an excited hungry puppy.

Yuka didn't bother getting out of bed. She just wrapped her arms around the small digimon. Her partner let out a small giggle, before leaning into her chest.

"You feeling better now?" Yuka heard Chika ask. The young girl turned her head and saw Chika sitting in a nearby chair and looking at the two of them. There was an open book in her lap, which Chika seemed to be pretty far in.

Yuka wondered just how long she had been asleep, but didn't bother asking. She nodded, and looked around a little bit, realizing that they were in a fancy looking room. "Where are we?"

"At one of the luxurious rooms at the File Island Beach Front Hotel," Chika answered with a smile plastered on her face.

Yuka's eyes widened. "Really?" She knew that was where they were headed, but those type of rooms were expensive!

Chika nodded.

"Cool!" Yuka exclaimed, before letting go of Tsukaimon so she could sit up. "Why are we here though?"

Chika laughed a bit. "You three need a break," Chika answered. "Besides, the Virus Busters recent actions bother me and the Commander anyway. I need to check in with Devimon to see if he knows anything, and if not let him know."

Yuka sighed, reminded of just why she had been asleep in the first place. "What happened to Yokohoma?"

"The city surrendered this morning," Chika answered, frowning. "Anyway, someone should be coming to get you, Relena, and Miyako in about a week."

Yuka didn't say anything for a moment, but then she sighed. "Is Ken-san alright?"

Chika closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know."

It was at that moment that Piyomon and Relena came into the room. Relena had two bags in her arms, both bursting with clothes.

Chika opened her eyes and took a look at the two of them. She sighed. "I thought you were going to buy a swimsuit!"

"I did!" Relena answered as she dropped the bags on the floor. "I just got a few other things..."

"Touma's probably going to throw a fit!" Chika replied.

Relena just smiled. "I got some stuff for you and Yuka also."

Yuka frowned and glared at Relena. "I'm old enough to choose my own clothes!"

"But you'll look adorable in this," Relena said, pulling out a modest light pink one-piece swimsuit from one of the bags.

Yuka blinked. She didn't like most girly-girly things because she usually couldn't fight in them, but that swimsuit did look cute. She shook her head." Thats not the point!"

Relena feigned hurt, but was rather obviously amused. "You don't like it? But I bought it just for you!"

Yuka just rolled her eyes and turned back to her still sleeping partner. "What did you get for you?" she heard Chika ask. She wasn't really that interested in what the teenage girl got. Sleeping Tsukaimon was more important.

"But that thing barely qualifies as string!" Yuka heard Chika shout a few moments later and Tsukaimon's eyes flashed open. She turned around to see Relena holding a bikini that fit Chika's statement much better than she thought it would. Chika wasn't just being old, that thing was tiny!

"You can't wear that!" Chika shouted. Yuka saw the young woman's fingers go up to rub her forehead, the tips lightly brushing against her bandanna for a moment, before her hand moved back down to her side.

"Why not?" Relena asked, pouting.

Chika sighed. "Because you have a blue glowing emblem that marks you as a bio-hybrid on your chest that wont be covered by that thing you call swim wear!"

Relena looked away from Chika. "I already asked Piyomon about that and he said it shouldn't matter here!"

Chika glared at her partner. "Why'd you say that!?"

Piyomon sighed. "Because File Island is one of the few places that accepts and allows bio-hybrids who defected or escaped from Kurata to live out in the open. This is also the only place where shes ever going to have a chance to wear that anyway."

Chika groaned. "That doesn't mean that everyones fine with them being here! Remember, not everyone in Yokohoma hated Digimon and DATS, otherwise we wouldn't have even gotten here!"

"Just let her act like a normal girl for once!" Piyomon shouted back. "She and Yuka needed to be careful the entire trip!"

"She isn't normal!"

"She's standing right here!" Relena shouted, her hands balled into fists.

Piyomon and Chika turned to look at her, and Tsukaimon let out a small giggle.

"I'm not a little kid!" the blonde shouted. "I'll listen to you if we're in the middle of enemy territory or something, but you are not my mother or my guardian!"

"Stop yelling at her!" Yuka shouted. "She's just worried about you!"

Relena turned to face her. "You stay out of this!"

Yuka saw Tsukaimon let out a glare at Relena. After a few moments, Chika sighed. "Fine, do what you want, but don't come crying to me if something happens because of it."

Yuka glared at Relena.

Relena sighed. "Fine by me." She then went down and searched through the bag for something. "I got a suit for you also."

Chika blinked. "You didn't need to do that."

Yuka was surprised that Relena was still giving Chika something after than, but then again, Chika was older than both of them.

"But I wanted to," Relena said while she kept searching through the bag. After a few more moments, her eyes seemed to light up. "There it is!" And with that, the teenager pulled out a bikini, which was slightly more modest than the one she picked out for herself, but still didn't leave much to the imagination.

Chika frowned and Piyomon sighed. "I thought that one was a little odd for her to get even with the other one she wanted."

Chika just sighed. "I'm not wearing that".

Relena blinked at her. "Why? You'll definitely fit into it well and a lot of the guys will be drooling when they look at you."

"I'm not wearing it."

"With that attitude you're never going to stop being single before you're forty."

Yuka suddenly felt like smashing Relena into the nearest wall.

Chika didn't seem to be much happier about what Relena had said. "I said I'm not going to wear it."

Relena sighed, shaking her head before placing the swimsuit back in the bag. "No wonder you never got anywhere with Ikuto, my brother, or that Takeru guy."

Yuka saw Chika's fist clench slightly, but she didn't say anything. That would just make things worse. The woman turned around. "If you two are heading to the beach today, you should probably go now."

Piyomon sighed. "I'll make sure these three stay out of trouble."

Chika smiled. "Thanks, Piyomon."

"Where are you going to be Chika-neechan?" Tsukaimon asked.

"I'm going to take a nap. I really need it," Chika answered, before turning back to Piyomon. "Make sure they don't run off with any boys."

"Chika-neesan!" Yuka shouted, bolting out of the bed. Like she would do anything like that!

Relena just sighed.

Piyomon nodded. "Got it."

Yuka moved over to where Relena was and took the swimsuit the other girl got for her. She might not have gotten to pick it out, but it was cute.

And it was a gift. You couldn't go wrong with that.

.o0o.

"I was right!" Yuka heard Relena yell as they walked out of the hotel and towards the beach. "You do look adorable in it."

Yuka turned to the older girl, whose revealing bikini was showing off even more skin than Yuka had imagined when she saw it at first. But Relena did look good in it, which was probably all that the older girl actually cared about. She seemed to be perfectly fine with the cat-calls from many of the passing boys of various ages (and even a few people who were definitely men), even if she didn't do more than wave at any of them.

What was more amazing was that Piyomon was completely right. Relena's mark on her chest was on prominent display, and no one on the island seemed to care at all. Yuka turned to look at the bird digimon, and thought he looked hilarious with all the beach towels held in his wings. She could tell that he had to do stuff like that often with how he managed to hold them.

"All the boys are looking this way," Tsukaimon commented, flying in front of Yuka. "I don't like it!"

Yuka let out a giggle. "It's fine, even if they all seem to be focused completely on Relena and not their own friends."

Tsukaimon turned around to look at her. "I still don't like it!"

That time, Relena let out a laugh. "That's so cute!" she said.

Yuka pouted a bit, turning to Relena. "He's being a little overprotective though," she said. She held out her arms, and Tsukaimon flew into them happily. At least now without her partner flying in front of her, she could walk a little faster. Too bad that Tsukaimon didn't realize that a lot of guys would be looking at her backside also.

"But it's adorable!" Relena shouted. "He's trying to be Ikuto since Ikuto isn't here!"

Yuka saw Piyomon shake his head at that as they made it to a big enough empty spot on the beach. "No he's not," he said, laying the towels on the sand. "The younger boys looking at Yuka aren't dead yet."

Yuka blinked, looking around for anyone who might've been looking at her. All the male gazes that she saw (and a few female ones) were focused on Relena. "Where?"

"YUKA!" She heard Tsukaimon shout. She turned her head back to her partner, and saw his eyes open wide.

Relena let out a giggle. "I'm sure they're around somewhere."

Yuka turned and glared at her. Did she really have to rub it in that much?

Relena grabbed her hand as she saw something. "Come on, there's volleyball!"

Yuka sighed as she was dragged to a group of six boys and two girls who were in the middle of playing a game of volleyball. She saw Piyomon follow them out of the corner of her eyes, and Tsukaimon was still held in her other arm.

"Hey!" Relena called out. "Do you mind if we join in the next game?"

A boy with brown hair and goggles resting on his forehead looked of at them. Yuka saw him blush when his gaze went over to Relena. "Sure, I don't mind."

One of the girls, dressed in a modest one piece swimsuit, rolled her eyes, her blond hair cascading on her shoulders. Yuka didn't know what her problem was, unless that boy seemed to do this for all the pretty girls.

"I think Izumi might be a little annoyed with you, Takuya-oniisan!" A boy younger than the other ones in his group said, looking over at them.

Yuka smiled at him, before feeling her cheeks get hot. Where was that coming from?

The other girl blushed. "Don't say things like that Tomoki!"

The boy laughed. "Why not? Its true!"

Yuka giggled, but she did wonder if this was okay. Chika-neesan did say to not run off with any boys. But there were also a few girls here...

She turned over to Piyomon. He looked over at her a flashed her a smile somehow.

And with that, both Yuka and Relena joined in the game while the digimon watched.

.o0o.

He just needed to wait. File Island may have been a neutral area, but that didn't mean that the guards that Devimon had hired couldn't fight. Right now he couldn't risk just barging in. He may have been given the mission from the leaders of the Virus Busters, but even a warrior of light like him couldn't take down Devimon and his entire guard on his own.

He'd need to wait. Besides, he couldn't even be sure if his ride off this island had even gotten here yet. There was no need to rush, he could take his time to learn the guards' positions and patrol patterns, and strike when he needed to.

It shouldn't take longer than a week anyway.

.o0o.

Author's Note:

I made a vow that with this update that I would tell you that I'm going to hold this story hostage. You guys won't get the next chapter next week if I don't get more -15 reviews...

Okay, done! You'll get chapter 7 next week. XD

In all seriousness though, if you like this fic, I would appreciate a review, like most authors around. Even though I know that some people are reading this, I would like to know if any of you are coming back week after week or if I'm just getting new readers each week.


	7. Calm Before the Storm

Yuka was surprised, but volleyball turned out to be pretty fun! She and Relena actually liked one of the same things!

Yuka flashed the youngest boy on her team a smile right before she hit the ball over the net. She saw him blush and turn away. That was just weird. Before she could think anything else about it, the ball came speeding back towards her. The young girl hit it into the air ... only for it to hit the net.

One the other side of the net, Relena smirked and moved in a way that had one of the boys staring at her. The other blonde haired girl on that side didn't appreciate that; she was practically throwing daggers with her eyes at the back of Relena's head.

The other girl of the group that they had somehow wormed their way into, a brunette, sighed. "Izumi's getting annoyed."

"Doe she like him or something?" Yuka asked.

The other girl laughed. "We're all good friends, of course Izumi likes Takuya."

"Oh," Yuka said. "Anyway, my name's Yuka."

"The name's Chiaki," the other girl said with a smile. She then gestured over to the youngest boy. "He's Tomoki."

Yuka turned and flashed another smile at him. "Nice to meet you, Tomoki!"

Tomoki blushed and turned away again. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Hey!" Relena shouted from up close to the net. "Are we going to get back to the game or what!?"

Yuka glared at the blonde, but then one of the guys handed her the ball. "Isn't it their serve?"

"You three were distracted and missed the last volley," the guy said. "You want to serve or not?"

"Sure!" Yuka replied. She'd show Relena!

Yuka hit the ball as hard as she could without her digisoul and the ball went soaring over the net.

Relena hit it right back over the net.

Yuka ran back and struck the ball before it hit the ground, only for it to fly off to the side. It was about to go out of bounds. "Crap!"

Before it could get too far though, Tomoki ran up and hit the ball over the net.

Relena and Takuya tried to get to the ball, but it landed in the sand before they got there.

Yuka let out a sigh of relief. The score was even now. "Nice shot Tomoki!" Yuka said, smiling.

Tomoki blushed. "Thank you," he said, turning away.

Yuka frowned. What was wrong with him?

.o0o.

**  
**Broken Dreams  
Chapter 7: Calm before the Storm

Written by Custom Magnum

Disclaimer: Digimon is owned by Toei Animation and Bandai, and no profit is being made off of this work.

.o0o.

"It's nice to talk to you again Touma-kun!" Chika said, a cellphone in her hand pressed against her ear. Her head and legs dangled off the sides of the bed. For now at least, she could pretend that she was a teenager with few cares in the world.

"Same here Chika-chan," Touma said. Chika blushed at that, but didn't say anything. Touma and Takeru were the only ones who could still get away with calling her "chan". Well, if Ikuto wanted to he could probably get away with it also, but he never cared about honorifics ever. "How is she?"

Chika frowned and sat up on the bed. Pretend time was over. "Relena's doing alright except for a nightmare she had a couple of nights ago."

Toum didn't say anything for a few moments. "Chika..."

"Save it," Chika cut him off. She took a deep breath. "I just hope that this break can keep her relaxed. You really should've let her join the DATS Training. Right now she's a civilian with massive power."

"So's Miyako-san, but the two of them don't have partners," Touma answered.

"Not like they need them," Chika countered.

"Chika-chan..." Touma started. Chika laid back down on the bed, waiting for him to finish. "... Nevermind."

Chika just sighed. "You did tell Yuka's mom and Ikuto that Yuka's safe, right?"

"They know," Touma answered. "Ikuto and I are actually the one's coming to pick them up," he added.

Chika frowned. "That's... nice."

"Is something wrong Chika-chan?"

"It's nothing. Just stress I guess."

"Well, god knows you need a vacation. You, Ikuto, and Takeru haven't taken leave in years."

Chika's eyes narrowed, even though she couldn't glare at him through the phone. No matter how much she wanted to.

"I can talk to Commander Satsuma and let you three have off for the next two weeks," Touma said. "You three could certainly use it."

"No!" Chika exclaimed. How dare he!?

"...Chika-chan?"

"I'm sick and tired of everyone and their dog trying to set me up with someone. 'Ikuto's still not attached.' 'Takeru totally wants you.' 'Touma's rich and single!'" Chika shouted. "Do you guys have a pool set up on when I get laid for the first time! If so then give the money to whoever bet five years ago!"

Chika heard a choked sound on the other line. "Chika-chan!?"

"So really, I'm perfectly capable of manging and screwing over my own love life and I don't need any help!"

"Chika, I wasn't..."

"Is there anything else I need to talk about with you?" Chika asked coldly. She'd apologize later, but right now if Touma was in the same room as her she'd punch him hard enough that Masaru's would feel like love taps.

"Look, Chika-chan. I'm sorry I upset you."

Chika sighed. "It's alright. You didn't know." She didn't say anything for a few moments. "Listen, I still need to meet with Devimon later, so I should probably get off the phone."

"...Alright Chika," Touma said after a moment.

The two of them said their goodbyes and then Chika hung up the phone. After a few moments she sighed and got out of the bed. Before she met with the ruler of the island she needed a shower.

.o0o.

Relena sighed and took a sip of her soda, looking around the snack stand and trying to figure out what to eat. She knew that anything made by the Burgermon working here would be delicious, Burgermon prepared food had a tendency to be like that. She turned to Takuya and smiled at him. "Anything you'd recommend?"

Takuya smiled back. "Anything they make is going to be good."

Relena blinked. That didn't help much. "Anything good in particular?" she asked, leaning towards him a bit.

Takuya gulped. "Well, their burgers are some of the best that I've tasted anywhere."

Relena blinked and moved back a bit. She didn't think that snack stand food would be THAT good, even if a Burgermon prepared it. "I'll just have to take your word for it then," she said, taking another sip of her drink.

She then blushed as she noticed that Takuya was deliberately not looking at her chest. Or rather trying to anyway. She could handle blatant staring, but a guy trying to be polite about it? That was different.

Relena shook her head and told her order to the Burgermon, before looking over at Yuka and Tomoki. They seemed to get along really well, even if Yuka was so dense that she couldn't tell that the kid had a crush on her. She giggled at the sight.

"What's so funny?" Takuya asked.

Relena blushed as she realized that Takuya was still looking at her. She pointed over at the two lovebirds.

Takuya turned his head towards them for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Unlike when she giggled at the two, this apparently caught Yuka and Tomoki's attention.

"What the hell are you laughing at!?" Yuka shouted.

Relena just laughed at that, and she noticed that Tomoki was blushing a bit.

Yuka just shook her head and turned back to her friend.

Relena sighed, her attention turning back to Takuya. He was pretty cute, now that she thought about it. She leaned closer to him, and giggled when she saw his cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink. She smirked. "Those two are adorable, aren't they?"

"Yeah..." Takuya answered. At the moment he was definitely focused on anyone but Yuka and Tomoki.

She giggled, then leaned over a little more and gave him a quick peck on the lips without thinking. Suddenly, she felt her cheeks heat up and his arms around her and the quick peck wasn't so quick anymore. Somehow in some way, she was now sitting on his lap, her lips pressing down against his, her arms roaming around his back.

He was a pretty good kisser. Soon she might even forget that she was at a snack stand at this rate.

"Do you two have to do that in public!?" Yuka shouted.

Relena and Takuya quickly broke out of the kiss and looked to see both Yuka and that Izumi girl glaring at the two of them.

Relena giggled, blushed, and tightened her hold on Takuya a bit, resting her chin on his shoulder. "You jealous Yuka-chan?"

Yuka let out a choked gasp and headed over to a nearby seat, where there suddenly was food.

It looked like she DID forget she was at a snack stand during that little kiss. Relena pulled away a bit, and giggled. "We should wait until after eating to get back to that, shouldn't we?"

Takuya just nodded as Relena got off his lap and went back to her seat, staring at her the entire time. As soon as she took her seat she heard Yuka mutter something about Piyomon not doing his job. Relena giggled, then grabbed her burger and took a bite out of it.

It was delicious, but Takuya's lips were still better.

.o0o.

"I can't believe you kissed that guy like that!" Yuka shouted at Relena as they, Piyomon, and Tsukaimon headed back towards their room, the two girls walking in head of Piyomon while Tsukaimon rested in Yuka's arms. "You just met today!"

"So?" Relena asked, a stupid grin plastered on her face.

"It's not right!" Yuka shouted back. "You just met him and you were just seconds away from pulling off your top!"

Relena's grin faded and was replaced with a glare. "I was not!"

"Sure you weren't," Yuka said back. "Weren't we not supposed to run off with boys."

Piyomon coughed. "I could still see you two," he answered weakly.

"I don't like that Tomoki boy!" Tsukaimon exclaimed suddenly.

Yuka looked down at him with a frown. "Why? Sure he's a little weird, but he's nice!"

Relena laughed and Yuka turned to her. What was so funny? "He's a little older than you when it comes to these things, isn't he?" the blonde taunted.

Yuka glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Piyomon sighed. "Can you two stop this? We're almost back at the room."

Yuka sighed and clutched Tsukaimon to her chest. "...Alright."

Relena huffed. "Fine."

None of them said anything until they entered the room... just in time to see a towel around Chika fall to the floor, although oddly enough the smaller towel on her head stayed in place.

Yuka would've blushed and turned away under normal circumstances... but her attention was instantly taken up with the large scar on the woman's shoulder. The thing was jagged and highly visible yet faded at the same time.

It had been there for a good long while. "Chika-neesan..."

Chika spun around quickly, her hand going towards a discarded kunai holster on the bed, grabbing one of the blades and being ready to throw it at whoever was in the room, and giving Yuka and the others a full view of the front of her body, and the large jagged matching scar on her left breast.

Yuka was finally able to turn away, trying to keep her eyes open on the wall to not see that scar when she closed her eyes, like she knew she would. It looked like some crazy doctor used some crazy sized scalpel on both sides of her body.

"What happened?" Relena shouted.

"It's nothing for you to worry about," Chika answered.

"But those scars..."

"I said it's nothing!" Chika shouted, her voice sounding scarily than she had ever heard it. It was different than when Chika yelled at them for being idiots. This was.. the kind of shouting you reserved for crazy megalomanics

Yuka hugged Tsukaimon closer to her, and finally turned around, only to see that Chika was heading into the bathroom, before seeing the door slam shut. She shivered, and took a deep breath.

"Why'd she yell at us?" Tsukaimon whined, shaking.

Yuka just pet him on his head, before turning around to Piyomon. "Do you know what happened to her?" she asked.

Piyomon nodded, but he looked sad. "It's not my place to tell you. It's something really personal, and obviously she hasn't gotten over it yet."

"Why!? How!?"

"Yuka..."

Yuka shook her head, tears starting to fall from her eyes. She didn't care at the moment. Just thinking about what could've happened to do that to Chika-neesan just...

Relena sighed and sat on one of the beds, pulling her knees close to her chest. "... That's probably why she didn't like the swimsuit," she said softly.

Yuka could tell that Relena was trying to act like this didn't affect her, and was falling miserably. The older girl was probably just as shocked by this as she was.

A few moments later, Chika came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in the most decent looking clothes she had borrowed from Miyako. She turned to the three of them, and Yuka's were drawn to the bandanna on her forehead that just looked plain odd when worn with the black dress Chika was wearing. "I'm going out for a bit. Be good, okay?" she said quickly, before she headed out the door.

Piyomon followed after her. "She's going to need me for this. I trust you two will be fine for a couple of hours." And with that he too was gone.

Yuka sighed and sat on the other bed. Everything right now was just plain so confusing.

.o0o.

"You don't need to come with me Piyomon," Chika said when she noticed that her partner was following her.

"But I want to," Piyomon said. "You need me there."

Chika turned to him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And what about Yuka and Relena?" she asked.

Piyomon sighed. "I think they'll be fine."

Chika walked over to her partner and placed a hand on his head. "I know you're worried about me, but really, Relena's a teenager and with Kurata after her..."

"I'm useless without you anyway," Piyomon said. "I can't evolve to fight without you. They're better off with just Tsukaimon there if anything does happen."

Chika sighed. "I'll be fine..."

Piyomon sighed and nuzzled against her hand. "I still want to stay by you. Please?"

Chika smiled and knelt down and brought her partner into a hug. "Okay." She then pulled away and pulled out her digivice. "Let's get going..."

In a few moments and with a flash of light, Chika and Aquilamon headed to the top of Mount Infinity. Usually something like this would probably cause the guards to attack them, but Devimon knew they were coming, so the guard was a little relaxed... at least for seeing flying red birds anyway.

Well, and making his palace more accessible to his subjects since the disbandment of the Nightmare Soldiers over five years ago probably helped too...

... which was something that she and Piyomon were directly responsible for. Now that she thought about it, having Piyomon with her was probably a good idea after all.

Aquilamon landed in front of the palace and Chika immediately got off of his back, smoothing out a few wrinkles in her dress as she landed on the ground. She turned to face her partner. "You ready?"

Aquilamon nodded, and the two of them walked forward passed a couple of Bakemon guards posted at the front door. The two of them shivered, and Chika felt sick. Nothing acted like that near her back when she was a little girl...

"Well, isn't this a surprise," a familiar voice said from her side. Chika made sure to keep her face neutral as she turned to face the lord of File Island himself. "I didn't expect you and your partner to come here alone."

"Trust me Devimon-sama, I wouldn't have brought anyone else with me even if they wanted to come," Chika said. "Either way, Piyomon and I are the only ones in the area at the moment."

"Guilt over helping an army of genocidal manics assassinate the leader of an army formed to defend innocents, are we?"

Chika made sure to keep the scowl off her face. She could see why Takeru-kun hated this guy.

Aquilamon snarled. "Sorry, but neither side in that conflict was innocent, Devimon."

Chika fought the urge to sigh. It was best to be professional about this. "The entire army wasn't innocent," she clarified. "Well, that and time does change things. I thought you would know that most of all."

Devimmon let out a loud chuckled. "That is true! Now what is it that you needed to speak to me about, Daimon?"

Chika looked around, and noticed the mass of digimon staring at the three of them. She turned her attention back to Devimon. "You mind taking this someplace more private," she asked quietly.

Devimon just let out another laugh. "Sorry, but I avoid mingling with your kind that way. I don't think even your partner goes that far."

Chika glared at the demon digimon, even though she knew that was the reaction that he wanted.

Aquilamon let out another snarl at Devimon, stepping in front of Chika.

"Then again," Devimon began, "discussing important matters in public might not be a good idea." He turned around and started walking. "Follow me."

Chika and Aquilamon started heading deeper into Devimon's palace, or rather temple, as that's what it looked like from the inside. All around her she saw many Pico Devimon, Bakemon, and other virus digimon praying at the statues of various high level virus digimon. It was a little unnerving to see, almost being cult-like, even if Devimon wasn't who these digimon worshiped.

After a few moments, Devimon lead them into the very back of the temple, stopping at the wall.

"We're still--" Aquilamon started, before Devimon hit some type of switch and the wall started slowly sliding up into the ceiling. When the wall had finally disappeared, Chika saw a descending staircase where it used to be.

Devimon continued walking down it, but Chika soon realized that there was going to be a problem with it. Aquilamon wouldn't fit through the doorway.

Aquilamon sighed and devolved back into Piyomon. "Let's go, Chika," he said.

Chika nodded, and the two of them followed Devimon down the staircase and into the black abyss. For a while her vision went completely dark, and it was only once they finally reached the bottom that Chika was able to see anything again.

Chika gasped when she appeared in a well lit shrine, with a large figure in the middle. It wasn't that there were a lot of torches still burning in this secret shrine with no one visible to maintain it. It was who the statue in the middle of the room was of.

She and Piyomon had killed him after all.

She turned to Devimon just as Piyomon shouted at him. "What's this all about!?"

Devimon chuckled. "Why wouldn't I put a shrine to the leader of the Nightmare Soldiers somewhere in my home. He was the greatest leader we ever had."

"You're using Victory Greymon's memory to continue maintaining the army," Chika said, finally realizing it.

Devimon shrugged. "The Virus Busters aren't going to be content with how things are much longer."

Chika sighed. "Still, this isn't good. If the Virus Busters find out about this... they will attack. They've already taken Yokohoma for Yggdrasil knows what reason."

Devimon didn't look happy at that. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, but now it's time for us to prepare."

Chika blinked. "Are you sure that the Virus Busters will know of this?"

"It never hurts to not take chances," Devimon answered. "Besides, don't you have a few children to take care off."

Chika sighed. "Thank you for seeing me, Devimon-sama."

And with that she and Piyomon turned around and left the palace.

.o0o.

Yuka couldn't believe it, but the next week practically flew by pretty normally. Or at least as normal as the first day set it up to be anyway. They'd meet Takuya and his friends at the beach, Relena and Takuya would make out, she and Izumi would yell at them, get food, Relena and Takuya make out, yell at them, go swimming, Takuya and Relena make out, watch the sunset, Relena and Takuya make out, and finally yell at them.

All in all, it really wasn't that bad. Although considering this was the last day, Yuka figured Relena would be really upset that she couldn't make out with Takuya anymore.

Yuka was dressed in a normal white tee-shirt and purple shorts while Relena was in a similar getup, only with blue shorts instead. The two of them had just left their room for their last morning at File Island.

Tsukaimon nuzzled in Yuka's arms. "Aniki's going to be here soon!" Tsukaimon said. "Then we'll have to go back to class."

Yuka frowned. It was going to be hell going back to DATS training after missing a few weeks. Takashi-sensei wasn't going to be happy, that's for sure. And just think of what Makino-sensei would do to her!

Yuka groaned. And Relena's giggles were definitely not helping.

Tsukaimon let out a panicked shriek as he looked over at the beach. Yuka looked down at him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Tsukaimon just started to tremble.

Yuka looked up...

... and saw the army of angel digimon flying towards the island, a large fleet of ships behind them.

Apparently Chika-neechan was wrong.

The Virus Busters COULD afford to piss everyone off.

.o0o.

Author's Notes:

Alright, knowing what I have planned and written for the future of this fanfic, I've realized that I haven't put nearly enough warnings on this thing.

So I'll give them to you now before things get TOO bad...

WARNINGS: Various degrees of het, slash, femslash, threesome, death, war, angst, digimon partner's existing, warnings listed that only have maybe the vaguest of mentions somewhere in the fic to prevent spoilers, AU, Epic fic, and upset author who has no reviews.

... I think that covers everything...


	8. Siege of File Island

Yuka couldn't believe what was happening. How could File Island be under attack like this?

The Angemon descended on the beach, and Yuka could hear the screams coming up from it. She trembled, clutching Tsukaimon to her chest.

She felt like she was almost going to tear out of her skin when she felt Relena put a hand on her shoulder. The young girl turned, and saw a look of worry on Relena's face.

"What should we do?" Tsukaimon asked, reclaiming Yuka's attention. "We need to find Chika-neechan! This is really bad."

Yuka turned back to Relena for a moment. The teenager didn't say anything, but Yuka's eyes were suddenly drawn to the clutched digivice in Relena's fist, and Yuka had a feeling that she knew what Relena wanted to do. She turned back to Tsukaimon. "We do what we can."

Tsukaimon blinked. "We're going to fight?"

Yuka nodded.

Tsukaimon leaped out of her arms, his eyes narrowed as he hovered in the air. "Then let's go show those Angemon who they're fighting!"

Yuka nodded and smiled for a moment and grabbed her digivice. "Let's go, Tsukaimon!"

.o0o.

Broken Dreams  
Chapter 8: Siege of File Island

Written by Custom Magnum

Disclaimer: Digimon is owned by Toei Animation and Bandai, and no profit is being made off of this work.

.o0o.

Yuka flew on Devidramon's back as Relena, now Bio Lighdramon again, ran down to the beach. Yuka's fist clenched, dark purple digisoul flaring around it.

Soon, the three of them were in the chaos, the Angemon attacking any virus digimon on the beach or anyone who wanted to fight against them. Yuka's eyes darted around, seeing five... seven... no, there were ten Angemon immediately near her...

Yuka was jolted from her musings when Devidramon sharply dove down the air, a golden beam of energy passing by her head. She sighed, and wondered where Chika was. They could certainly use the help right now. "We need to take some of them out now if we want to have a chance! Relena, go find Chika-neesan while we distract them!"

Devidramon didn't say anything but he once again climbed up into the sky.

Yuka smirked, realizing what her partner was planning on doing. "Go for it!"

Devidramon dove down quickly, pouncing onto a nearby Angemon and digging his claws into the angel's neck. The angel fell limp as Devidramon tore away, and was a digiegg before hitting the ground.

Yuka looked behind them and saw that another of the angel's were getting ready to fire. "Dodge! Now!"

Devidramon moved just in time to avoid the beam... only to have a staff slam into his side.

Yuka growled, and threw a still digisoul charged fist at the attacking angel's chest. The force of the blow seemed to knock him back a bit. Yuka knew that they were getting nowhere fast. There were still nine of these Angemon alive around her, not to mention the other areas of the island and whatever digimon the Virus Busters were transporting on those ships...

... It now seemed very obvious why the Virus Busters attacked Yokohoma.

"Red Eye!" Devidramon shouted, firing at the Angemon that she had hit, knocking him back even farther.

Yuka hoped that Relena was having better luck that she was, because if she wasn't? Relena wasn't going to be able to find Chika-neechan.

Three Angemon suddenly fired their energy beams at the two of them. Devidramon weaved around the first two... but the third one hit him directly in the chest.

Yuka clawed at her partner's back to avoid being knocked off him and to the ground... but he was still falling pretty fast, the wind nipping at her face. "Devidramon!"

Devidramon let out a groan and regained control of his flight, even though it was still unsteady and he was panting heavily.

Yuka realized that there was probably no way they were going to get out of this unless Chika showed up right at that very moment. She only barely realized that her grip on her partner's back increased in strength, her nails digging into the leather on his back.

Lightning and bursts of wind smashed into the attacking angels suddenly, coming from the sky. Yuka blinked at that. What was going on? Relena was land-bound, so it couldn't have been her...

She and Devidramon both turned around, and saw two flying digimon. One was male and wearing blue insect-themed armor while the other was female that was wearing armor that covered everything important to not break indecent exposure laws, but not much else. There was a visor over the woman's eyes, and fairy wings were coming out of her back.

"Who are you?" Yuka asked. This was getting weirder and weirder.

.o0o.

Relena cursed, sending a blast of lightning at a nearby group of Angemon. The angels scattered from her attack, and for once, Relena hated having a land-base evolution form. This wasn't going well at all. There was a flash, and she bolted to the side to dodge a blast from an Angemon. Where could Chika be?! It was bad enough that the nature of this fight had already separated her from Yuka!

Relena charged forward, sending blasts of lightning towards any of the angel digimon she saw as she called out to Chika and Piyomon, but her cries were probably drowned out by the screams of all the people and Digimon, she was lucky if she'd be heard at all... or did anything but get the Angemon's attention.

The angel digimon were turning to face her from what seemed to be everywhere. Relena let out another curse and jumped into the air, sending out a massive bolt of lightning at one who seemed like he was going to blast her in the chest. She smirked ans she landed on the ground and saw the Angemon wither in pain and prepared to sprint through the group...

A burning force of something slammed into her back, sending her tumbling forward onto the ground with a scream. She snarled, lightning crackling around her as she slowly brought herself to her feet, sending it out in every direction. Even if she didn't manage to hit any of the Angemon around her, she could probably detonate their attacks pretty easily enough to avoid getting blasted again.

Seemed like the angel digimon were smarter than that, flying back and firing once her lightning fizzled out of existence.

Several of the Holy Knuckle beams slammed into Relena's body at once before she could think to react. The holy fire seemed to tear at her skin, and she wondered how Devidramon could ever take one of these and be as fine as he usually was. She knew this energy hurt demon types...

Either way, she needed to do something and she needed to do something now. Relena charged forward towards the nearest Angemon and pounced, sending a blast of lightning at it with as much force as she could muster.

The angel slammed down into the sand, unconscious. Relena ran past him, dimly aware of the blood that was dripping down her body into the sand. It seemed like her digimon half hadn't recovered from the past battles as much as she thought...

And with that, Bio Lighdramon fell face first into the sand, devolving into an extremely battered and exhausted Relena. She pushed at the soft sand, trying to get to her feet. Right now was not a good time for her to pass out. Unlike with Yuka in Yokohoma, there didn't seem to be a Chika to come around and suddenly save her. She needed to be stronger, or else she was done for...

... And then V-mon and her father's love would've been misplaced...

Despite the fire burning in her legs and arms, Relena made it to her feet, her digisoul flaring on and off around her body... before finally bursting into a tall aura of light violet light around her. She finally felt it, the fire vanishing, and she could feel the cuts on her body closing themselves and she felt really really good.

With a flash of light, her body shifted back to Bio Lighdramon, but this time she felt different.

Now there was power flowing through her veins instead of blood.

THIS was the power that had caused Bio Hybrids to be feared.

Despite still being based off an armor digimon, Relena finally knew that she had reached power that was beyond the perfect level. She smirked and turned to the angels that had her surrounded, all of their fists glowing.

This time, she waited.

Once the Angemon fired, Relena leaped into the air, lighting leaping from her horn down in a wide, violent arc. "Lightning Blade!" she shouted, her eyes narrowed in concentration, the blast getting wider, slamming into each of the angel's bodies, them spasming as the lightning coursed through them.

They screamed.

And they exploded, their digieggs slamming onto the beach at the same time that she landed.

Her smirk deepened.

The three remaining Angemon around here stared down at her, their faces stoic.

Lightning crackled around Relena's paws, jaws, and horn blade. Her eyes were focused on the three of them, daring them to attack.

The Angemon turned and ran.

Relena let herself relax a bit, looking around the area. There were still angels attacking the civilians on the beach, yet for some reason they were only herding the virus digimon into one spot, not killing them.

She sprinted forward to get a better look... and froze when she saw Takuya, Tomoki, and a few of the others heading towards another large group of Angemon, this one lead by an angel digimon with eight wings and a purple shield on his forearm.

Takuya looked over at this regal angel leader, fire dancing in his eyes. "Why are you here?!"

The angel looked over at the other humans. "So... Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Ophanimon's hybrid pets are here," the leading angel mocked, a sneer on his face.

Relena had no idea what he meant by pets, but did they have some connection to the Virus Busters? But then why weren't they attacking any of the civilians.

The leader chuckled. "Lord Dominimon and the rest of us have been waiting for an excuse to take you things out."

Relena let out a gasp as a purple sword suddenly appeared from a bracelet on the angel's arm.

"Have it your way Holy Angemon," Takuya said, a strange digisoul that looked a lot like a blue bar code appearing over his and the bodies of the other five children with him. When the digisoul vanished, various humanoid digimon were standing in their place. A warrior in flame decorated armor, something like a teddy bear made of snow, an armored figure with mirrors for a shield, and young woman with blue skin and fins, something made of wood, and a gnome-like creature.

And then, the six new digimon charged forward at the horde, with what used to be Takuya, the warrior of Fire, leaping at Holy Angemon.

Relena shook her head, getting out of her shock that the six were bio-hybrids, and charged into the fight herself.

Even if it seemed like Takuya was a member of the Virus Busters... Chika wouldn't leave whoever they were now protecting to die, after all.

.o0o.

"Who are you two?" Yuka yelled as Devidramon fire a blast of red energy into a nearby Angemon's chest.

The fairy digimon flew closer to Yuka and fired a vortex of wind at a nearby Angemon who was preparing to attack.

"Just call me Fairymon, alright?" she asked, not really sounding too happy.

Yuka blinked. She knew that voice. "Izumi-san?"

Fairymon frowned, and Yuka guessed that the lilac (not lilac, blonde) haired woman (girl) didn't want Yuka to know who she was for some reason.

Devidramon dodge another blast and once again retaliated, only to miss this time. The Angemon flew towards them, staff pulled back.

He was blasted by a bolt of lightning from the blue-armored digimon. "Call me Blitzmon," he said, before charging and punching another Angemon with a thunder charged fist.

Yuka sighed. "Don't relax yet Devidramon! We need to show them that we can hold our own!"

Fairymon just laughed.

Yuka pouted, before turning her attention to the nearest Angemon. "Attack Now!"

Devidramon growled in response and charged forward, ready to strike at the angel's chest.

The Angemon flew back and began charging his attack.

Devidramon's eyes widened.

Yuka gasped.

Lightning and wind slammed into the angel from both sides, knocking him around and sending him flying to the ground.

Yuka panted, and looked over at Fairymon and Blitzmon. "...Thanks."

Fairymon smiled. "No problem."

Yuka turned back to the remaining Angemon, before she saw Relena fighting a bunch of angel digimon in the distance back at the beach.

Her eyes narrowed. Relena should've went to go find Chika-neesan! With a virus digimon Yuka was supposed to be a distraction!

Yuka turned back to Fairymon "Can you two cover us? Relena's in trouble!"

Blitzmon nodded. "We'll cover you. Go help you friend."

Fairymon seemed a little annoyed at that. "Don't decide things for me."

Blitzmon hung his head down low. "Sorry."

"Fairymon, please!" Yuka pleaded, her grip on Devidramon tightening, sweat now dripping down her body. If she and Devidramon didn't have any cover fire, there was no way they were going to be able to get to Relena in time to do anything!

Fairymon nodded, sending a blast of wind at the nearest Angemon. "Go!"

Yuka smiled. "Thank you Izumi-san!" She looked down at Devidramon's face. This was it. "Let's go!"

Devidramon flew forward, going as fast as his body would let him. Yuka could tell this easily, having ridden on his back at this speed many times before.

The group of Angemon in the sky turned their attention to the two of them, and Yuka saw two blasts of energy speed at them out of the corners of her eyes.

Lightning and wind smashed into each beam, knocking them away.

Yuka sighed in relief, and urged Devidramon to go faster, even if she knew in her mind that her partner couldn't go any faster. She needed to get out of here, help Relena, then find Chika...

Fairymon and Blitzmon blasted more attacks aimed from Devidramon. Yuka just hoped they could keep it up until they made it over to where Relena was...

.o0o.

Relena saw Takuya kick at Holy Angemon's chest, only to see the the angel grab his leg and thrown him to the ground.

The mermaid digimon looked over at the boy with wide eyes. "Agnimon!"

Takuya, or Agnimon now, looked over at her. "keep focused on your fight Ranamon!"

Ranamon jumped backwards as a nearby Angemon swung at her neck with his staff. She blasted the attacking angel with a torrent of water that knocked him back.

Agnimon turned his attention back to Holy Angemon, throwing blasts of fire at him. Each blast was effortlessly cut in half by his purple blade. Agnimon swore as the angel charged at him. The warrior of fire frantically dodged each swipe from his enemy.

Relena had seen enough. She gathered lightning around the blade on her forehead and let it loose. The lightning collided with Holy Angemon's back.

Agnimon wasted no time, and sent a fireball into the angel's chest at point-blank range.

Holy Angemon stumbled back, but the blast of flame didn't seem to have done anywhere near as much damage as she thought it would have. The angel snarled as he turned to face both of them. "You dishonorable, deceitful things. I'll send the two of you to hell!"

Lightning crackled around Relena's body."Do your best then."

And with that, she charged at the perfect level angel digimon. She wasn't going to let this be a repeat of the fight with Mephismon. "Blue Thunder!" she shouted, a large bolt of lightning at the Angemon, who took to the sky. The blast sailed past him and slammed into another Angemon that was fighting against the teddy bear that had been Tomoki.

"Thanks!" the teddy bear answered.

Relena didn't acknowledge his thanks, her focus staying on Holy Angemon.

Agnimon jumped forward, crashing his fists together. "Burning Salamander!" he shouted, fire streaming out of the vents in his gauntlets. He spun around, the flames swirling around his body, a dangerous tornado as the warrior charged at Holy Angemon, who had landed back on the ground.

The angel looked like he was going to try to run again, but Relena wasn't going to let him do that. She sent another Blue Thunder at him, aiming for his back again.

Once again, like her other sneak attack, this one hit the mark. Holy Angemon screamed, stumbling forward into Agnimon's attack.

The fire burned over the angel's body, and Relena sent another blast at him. Holy Angemon screamed louder, before he finally burst into data, a digiegg being to only thing left of that particular commander.

Relena panted, and looked around at the remaining Angemon, who decided to flee back over to where the ships. They were close now, and Relena could see a large amount of vaguely purple metal creatures visible.

The Virus Busters had Gizmon. Relena couldn't tell if they were AT or XT, but she really hoped it was the former. They might have a chance at surviving.

"What are those?" Tomoki asked.

Relena turned to look at the bear hybrid. "Those are Gizmon," she answered, turning back in time to see five Gizmon flying off of the nearest ship and heading towards the Island...

... or rather at Yuka, who was heading towards them on Devidramon's back.

"YUKA!"

.o0o.

Yuka smiled when she saw Relena take out that perfect digimon like that, but it faded almost immediately after seeing those Gizmon launch from the ships, headed straight towards her and Devidramon.

The blood drained from her face. "Dodge them!" If her partner was hit by those things attacks...

Devidramon sharply flew, dodging each beam and trying to fire his own back at the creatures, but the Gizmon just took the attacks like they were nothing.

Yuka saw Relena shoot a blast of lightning at one of the Gizmon, and it actually seemed to do some damage to it, but the war machines still just targeted her and Devidramon.

Yuka's eyes narrowed.

Devidramon found himself assaulted by more beams from the Gizmon drones, and barely managed to dodge all of them.

Yuka tightened her grip on her partner's back, trying to make sure she didn't fall off. She could tell her partner was starting to get tired, flying lower and lower towards the ground as he dodged each beam.

Panic shot through Yuka's veins. Devidramon was going to get killed if this kept up. She grabbed her digivice, and looked down at the approaching ground.

In a moment, she knew what she needed to do, despite the risk.

Yuka pressed a button on her digivice, and Devidramon was sucked inside it. "YUKA!" he shouted, not that it matted much.

Without Devidramon's back to ride on, Yuka plummeted down to the ground, knowing that in moments, she was going to be dead.

"YUKA!" Devidramon shouted. Yuka was happy that at least she knew that HE would survive this.

She closed her eyes. "Goodbye, Tsukaimon."

"YUKA!"

.o0o.

"YUKA!" Relena shouted, charging forward, hoping that if she manage to catch Yuka that she could still be saved.

The girl might've been annoying, but Relena didn't want her dead. She forced her legs to run faster, pumping more energy into them than ever before.

Yuka continued falling, and Relena realized that no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't going to make it. She couldn't let that happen, but even as she thought that her body started to slow down.

She couldn't!

Relena tripped and stumbled to the ground. The bio-hybrid looked up, frozen in fear.

A red streak flew in the sky, and collided with the falling girl. Relena realized a moment later that that was Garudamon, and she sighed. Yuka was okay!

Chika's partner landed on the ground right in front of her, Yuka cradled in his large arms. Relena rose to her feet and ran over to the girl, who stumbled when her feet hit the beach, her hands grabbing at Relena's armor for balance. The girl was panting heavily and shaking.

"Yuka!" Chika's voice shouted, and before Relena knew it, Chika was standing by them. "Are you alright?"

Yuka nodded, but didn't say anything as her body continued to shake.

"Chika-neechan!" Devidramon shouted from inside Yuka's digivice. "My partner's nuts!"

Chika didn't say anything to that.

Relena sighed, and suddenly felt her body return to that of a human. She swore, and wrapped her arms around the shaking girl.

Yuka's arms wrapped around her body tightly, and Relena stroked the back of the young girl's head. She looked around, and noticed that Takuya and the others had devolved as well. Maybe they were like her and not really that used to battle...

Relena's attention snapped back to the five Gizmon in the sky, but she saw Chika look at her out of the edge of her sight. She turned to face the older woman. For some reason Relena thought Chika looked upset for some reason.

"I'm sorry, Relena," Chika said, walking forward towards the Gizmon, her digivice in hand. Suddenly, Chika's headband fell off her forehead, revealing a glowing pink heart shaped symbol on it... the same time that a light purple aura of digisoul flared to life around her body.

Relena shoved Yuka out of the way, her wide eyes staring over at Chika. It couldn't be... It wasn't true!

IT WASN'T!

Chika thrust her hand down on the digivice with a cry of "Hyper Bio Evolution".

There was a flash of light, and Relena felt like magma was flowing in her veins instead of blood.

When the light vanished, Chika was no longer standing there. Instead it was a red feathered bird digimon with four legs ending in talons with a silver helmet covering its face and beak.

No longer was Chika standing there, but the digimon that murdered her father...

Chika was...

"Bio Holsmon!"


	9. Duel of the Heavens

Yuka stumbled as Relena pushed her away. She was about to yell at the older girl, her near brush with death now forgotten...

At least until she saw Chika evolve into Bio Holsmon, and how Relena was acting... Takuya and his friends moved over to them as Relena fell to her knees. "No..."

Bio Holsmon looked at the girl sadly, before turning over to look at Garudamon. "We need to take out those Gizmon."

Yuka turned around and saw Garudamon nod before turning to her. "Can you take care of Relena?"

Yuka could only nod her head in response, while Bio Holsmon... no, Chika turned to look at her. "Thank you Yuka."

And with that, both Chika and Garudamon took to the sky

Yuka turned her attention back to Relena, who was shaking. She went to wrap her arms around the blonde, only to get thrown back for her troubles.

"That bitch," Relena mumbled under her breath. "That murderous bitch!" she screamed.

"Relena!" Takuya yelled. "What's wrong?"

Relena didn't seem to hear the boy, but she did stand up and Yuka saw blood on the girl's fingernails where they were digging into her flesh.

"Relena..." Yuka whispered.

"I'll kill her!" Black flames started to appear around her body, and Yuka felt herself shiver. That fire just seemed wrong somehow...

Chiaki looked over at Relena in shock. "This is just like Kouichi!"

Takuya frowned. "Relena, calm down, please!"

"Be quiet!" she shouted.

Yuka ran over to her, only to be violently shoved out of the way again. She looked up at Relena, wondering what they were going to do as Relena howled in rage.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom-Magnum

Chapter 9: Duel of the Heavens

.o0o.

Chika winced, hearing Relena's anguished scream even as she continued flying away towards the attacking Gizmon... and she was responsible for it.

But she didn't have time to explain everything, to tell her why!

... Not that Relena was likely to care or believe her even if she did try to explain. And Chika didn't even know if she really wanted her too.

"Are you alright Chika?" Garudamon asked.

Chika nodded. "What's done is done. Let's just take care of these Gizmon before trying to think of a way to fix my relationship with Relena." She flew ahead, her eyes glowing with power concentrated in her eyes. "Mach Impulse!" she shouted, shooting out two beams that slammed into the nearest Gizmon, knocking it back.

Chika saw a bird shape blast of flame slam into the staggering Gizmon, the abomination exploding into data, its egg falling to the beach below.

At that moment, Chika saw that more Gizmon were pouring out of the ships, and she cursed as she realized where they were headed.

They were heading towards a mob of virus digimon that had been huddled in a section of the beach.

Chika's eyes narrowed and she flew faster, knowing that the Gizmon weren't going attack anything that wasn't a virus digimon without being attacked first. She spun around in a circle, spinning around and sending a vortex into a back of another Gizmon. She snarled when the Gizmon just acted like it hadn't even felt the attack at all. And it probably hadn't, which just made it even more annoying.

Garudamon darted at one and punched it in the back. The war machine slammed down into the ground... only for it to bring itself off of the ground and fly back with the comrades.

"Attack it at the same time!" Chika shouted, her eyes glowing with pink energy, before she fired two beams into a Gizmon's back.

Garudamon fired a Wing Blade at the same digimon, incinerating it. He flew closer to Chika. "There's no way that we cane stop this alone! Not like this!"

Chika looked over at him warily. "Do you think we should..."

Garudamon nodded. "It's the only chance we have!"

Chika sighed. "Never thought we'd need to use this for mindless grunts."

Garudamon smirked. "Can't be a flashy epic duel for everything."

Chika just rolled her eyes as her body started glowing.

Garudamon's body started glowing with a brilliant light. "Garudamon!"

"Bio Holsmon!"

The digimon and Bio-Hybrid seeming exploded into two bursts of color, one orange and the other light purple. The two streaks closed in together.

"JOGRESS EVOLVE!"

.o0o.

Yuka sighed. Relena still looked pissed off, but the large amount of Gizmon were headed towards another area and not them.

"Yuka!" Devidramon shouted from her digivice. "Let me out and let me fight!"

"But they'll kill you!" Yuka shouted back.

"If we don't stop them they'll kill all those innocent digimon!" Devidramon shouted back. "If you can't put the life of innocent people over me you're never going to be a full member of DATS!"

Yuka sighed. Her partner was right. She turned over to Relena and the others. "Can you guys help?" Everyone except Relena nodded. "Relena?"

Relena still didn't answer. Yuka walked up and put her hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Relena flinched. "Let go of me."

"We need your help Relena," Yuka said. "Even with all of us, the Gizmon will probably kill us all."

"I said LET GO!!" Relena shouted, grabbing Yuka's hand and throwing it off her body as she turned around, causing Yuka to get tossed onto the sand.

"Relena! Stop it!" One of the guys said, but Yuka didn't know which one it was.

Yuka got off of the ground and looked over at Takuya. "You guys go help fight. I'll talk to her," at that moment, Fairymon and Blitzmon flew overhead. They were heading to where the virus digimon were now being assaulted by Gizmon.

Takuya nodded and he and the others quickly evolved again, heading towards where the battlefield had been moved to.

Yuka turned her attention back to Relena. "Come on, we need your help."

Relena just turned away again, looking up at the sky.

Yuka followed the blonde's gaze. BioHolsmon and Garudamon were still fighting the Gizmon, as unsuccessfully at that. "I know you hate Chika right now, but put that aside before anyone else gets killed!"

Relena didn't say anything.

Yuka growled, ran up to Relena and spun her around before planting her fist in the teenager's face.

Relena fell to the ground, her eyes wide open.

Yuka glared at her. "Grow up!" Yuka's nails were digging into her palms now, but she didn't mind the sharp digging pain, not right now. "We have no idea what happened between Chika and your father, but now is not the time!"

Relena growled and brought herself to her feet, ready to punch Yuka in the face, her light purple digisoul flaring over her fist.

Yuka dodged it effortlessly and threw her own punch at Relena's gut, only for her punch to be grabbed in the older girl's hand.

"She killed my father!" Relena shouted. "How dare you say we have no idea what happened!?"

Yuka's face then collided with Relena's other fist and the younger girl staggered back.

"Yuka!" Devidramon shouted. "Let me out of here. We need to stop the Gizmon!"

Yuka grabbed her digivice and pointed it at an open space. "Devidramon! Realize!"

Devidramon appeared and turned towards Yuka. "Come on!"

Yuka looked at her partner with a sad gaze, then slowly turned back to Relena. "Go, I'll convince the brat here."

Relena's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything.

"But!" Devidramon shouted at her, obviously worried.

"I'll be fine!" Yuka shouted back. "Those digimon and Takuya need your help now! Didn't you just say that we needed put innocent lives above ours?"

Devidramon sighed and nodded.

Yuka smiled. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Devidramon answered, turning around and taking to the sky to head towards the battlefield.

Yuka turned her attention back to Relena. "Come on, stop this. After the Gizmon are gone and you still hate Chika? Fine, I won't get in between you two. But don't let a lot of people and digimon get killed because you have a grudge against someone who's defending them!"

Relena glared at her. "Would you be able to fight alongside someone who killed Ikuto? Your mother or father?"

Yuka narrowed her eyes and just stared at Relena, before saying the only thing she could.

"Yes."

Relena turned away again.

Yuka was about to turn away in disgust when Relena evolved into Bio Lighdramon again. She walked forward slowly, a sad look on her face. "Get on."

Yuka's eyes widened and she climbed up onto the bio-hybrid's back. "Let's go Relena!"

Relena took off without a word, and before Yuka knew it they were once again in battle.

And it wasn't going well. Devidramon was only one of the digimon who went to defend the innocent digimon that was actually having to defend against them now. It seemed like these were only programmed to attack virus digimon... which since they were working with the Virus Busters made lots and lots of sense.

Relena stopped running and fired a blast of lightning at the nearest Gizmon, but the thunder attack didn't do much to it at all.

Yuka's eyes widened as she saw a Pico Devimon get blasted between the eyes by a Gizmon's red laser, the beam drilling through it's body. The Pico Devimon exploded into data, and a digiegg didn't form from the remains.

Just like Gizmon attacks were supposed to do.

Yuka's eyes lit up in anger and she jumped off of Relena's back, and threw a digisoul charged punch into the nearest Gizmon's eye. The Gizmon went flying backwards into the air from the impact.

Yuka landed on the ground and glared up at the Gizmon, seeing Relena and Devidramon blast it with energy at the same time. The Gizmon burst into data.

She turned away and charged at another nearby Gizmon, who had blasted a Dark Tyrannomon through the heart.

There was a flash of light, and Yuka stopped her attack to turn to see it. It seemed like everyone, including the Gizmon were focused on the light. And a cry of "JOGRESS EVOLVE!" shot through the sky in a strange combo of Chika and Garudamon's voices.

The light grew in brightness in an explosion. When it finally faded, there was a single majestic looking angel in blue armor flying in the sky. "SLASH ANGEMON!" the new digimon shouted, looking down at the battlefield.

Yuka had no clue what had happened, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the figure in the sky.

The Gizmon flew into the sky after it, sending red beams of energy at the new angel. The virus digimon were completely forgotten.

Yuka's eyes widened even farther as Slash Angemon effortlessly dodge all of the beams, two swords forming on his arms. The angel dove forwards, and cleaved two of the Gizmon in half with a single slash.

The other Gizmon apparently didn't care about their two dead companions, as they mindlessly kept firing at Slash Angemon. The angel just expertly weaved through the storm of beams, slashing at any of the drones that he got close to.

And it didn't take long before there was only one Gizmon left on the battlefield. Yuka looked on in awe as the abomination slowly inched backwards, and it was shaking. Violently.

Slash Angemon's swords started to glow, and the angel charged forward, brining his swords up in an X position in front of his body.

The Gizmon charged its deletion beam, even has is started speeding back even faster.

Yuka's eyes widened. There was no way that Slash Angemon was going to be able to dodge the attack in time.

He managed to do so anyway, flying up and maintaining the still crossed position of the swords in front of him. "Holy Cross!" Slash Angemon shouted, slashing both swords down into the Gizmon's body. The war machine fell apart into four distinct pieces. The pieces exploded into data and a single sickly looking purple digiegg fell down to the beach and landed right in front of Yuka.

Yuka blinked. She really didn't understand what was going on, but right now she also didn't really care.

Relena walked up to her, glaring up at the digimon. Blue lightning gathered around her body and she growled at Slash Angemon.

Yuka's eyes widened. "What are you doing?!"

"Blue Thunder!" Relena shouted, firing the blast of lightning at Slash Angemon.

The angel just batted the blast of lightning away effortlessly with one of the swords, and looked down at the two of them.

"That's... Slash Angemon!?" Takuya asked. He must've come back over to them once he realized that the Gizmon were gone. She noticed that the rest of his friends had devolved as well. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Slash Angemon stayed in the air, his wings flapping in the air and sending a breeze over at the group. "Relena..."

Yuka's eyes suddenly felt like they had been pried open at the voice. It was both one that was so different, yet so similar to one that she knew. "How..."

"I can't believe you would Jogress with that thing you call a partner, Piyomon!"

Everyone turned to see Dominimon flying near them, pure contempt and hatred in his voice. Yuka's fists clenched, and she heard Devidramon growl at him. What she wouldn't give to smack that guy across the face right about now.

"You know what I told you before Dominimon," Slash Angemon answered, this time his voice clearly being that of Piyomon.

Dominimon sneered. "I could tolerate you calling that hybrid a partner, but this is unacceptable!" With that shout, a blade suddenly materialized in Dominimon's hand. "I'll take you two out myself!"

Slash Angemon readied his... its swords. "You're welcome..." Piyomon's voice came from the angel.

"To _TRY_!" Chika's voice finished.

The two angel digimon charged forward, swords clashing against each other, the two of them darting around and at each other. It was obvious that both fighters knew their way around a blade.

"Chika-neesan..." Yuka said in awe as she saw Slash Angemon deflect a strike from Dominimon and immediately lashed out with its other blade.

Dominimon dodged it, and swung his blade at Slash Angemon's neck.

Slash Angemon slashed down with one of his swords and knocked Dominimon's off to the side.

Dominimon snarled. "You two won't be able to keep this up forever!"

Slash Angemon smirked. "We don't have to." Its two blades started glowing with a golden light.

Dominimon looked shocked and flew backwards.

Slash Angemon brought its blades up in front of its body in the shape of a cross. "Holy Cross!" A golden cross shaped beam of energy shot out of the swords, speeding towards Dominimon. The beam slammed into the Dominimon's chest, knocking him back. The general's body shook.

"You abandoned us! You used to be our ally Piyomon! Even before this happened with Chika, the two of you believed in our mission to protect this world!"

Slash Angemon just stared over at Dominimon, a slight frown on his face. "Back when you guys were the Wind Guardians, you didn't seem to be this psychotic," Piyomon's voice said. "We warned you idiots about what would happen with your genocide campaign, reminding you that you would be nothing more than a second Kurata!"

Dominimon snarled. "It's stopping the revival of the Demon Kings that Kurata and Kagura tried that is the entire point!" He shouted, charging forward and swinging his sword at Slash Angemon again.

Slash Angemon just parried it and slashed at Dominimon with both blades. The swords met Dominimon's chest armor with a loud scraping sound, and they left a rather large scrape in the middle of the chest plate, but it was obvious to Yuka that the Virus Buster's general wasn't hurt.

"Do we really need to say this again?" Slash Angemon asked, using both Chika and Piyomon's voices. "We'll stop them if they come back to life. Belphemon and Lilithmon have already been defeated once before! There's no reason to kill all the virus digimon just because you're afraid of five specific ones! You guys are no better than Kurata now!"

"I'm not the one that jogressed with a hybrid Piyomon!" Dominimon shouted. "You have no right to compare me to him!" Dominimon charged forward and slashed at Slash Angemon's sword and leaving a gash of his own in the jogressed angel's armor.

Slash Angemon's mouth started to tremble. "You don't want to be compared to Kurata... YOU'RE USING GIZMON FOR YGGDRASIL'S SAKE!" it shouted and attacked with his swords at Dominimon's head, but both blades where just blocked by Dominimon's own. Slash Angemon just answered that by slashing down at the other angel's chest, managing to cleave through the armor with a spray of data flecks.

Dominimon howled in pain. The angel clutched at his chest with one of his hands, the data flecks leaking through his fingers into the air.

Slash Angemon pointed its blades at Dominimon, but backed away. "Stand down Dominimon! You've lost this fight!"

Dominimon didn't say anything. He just sneered at Slash Angemon.

Yuka was in awe and confused. Chika-neesan and Piyomon were amazing, but at the same time Dominimon wasn't going to surrender. As far as she could tell he had lost.

Dominimon charged forward, slowly swinging his blade with one hand.

Slash Angemon easily parried it with one blade, and in a flash the other one was pressed against Dominimon's throat. "Stop this stupidity!" Chika and Piyomon both pleaded to the general.

Dominimon sighed and his blade vanished.

Slash Angemon smiled and released the other angel.

Dominimon just smirked, his blade reappearing in his hands, glowing with a brilliant white light. "Final Excalibur!" he shouted as he swung his blade down at Slash Angemon's chest.

Slash Angemon blocked it with both of his blades, but the single glowing blade apparently had more power than ever, as he was managing to push through Slash Angemon's defense.

Yuka's eyes widened. "Chika-neesan! Piyomon!" she turned to the others. "They need help!"

Takuya and his friends looked at each other, all of them sharing the same doubtful look.

Yuka growled, and looked over at Devidramon. "Come on!"

Devidramon looked at her with a frown, and Yuka sighed. "We're going to help. Let me on."

"Are you crazy?" Devidramon asked.

Izumi and the others also looked at her with disbelief. "You can't!" the blonde haired girl shouted.

"You'll get killed!" Tomoki yelled. "Dominimon's going to kill both you and Devidramon if you try it. You two should be running!"

Takuya sighed. "I know how you feel, but there is nothing that you can do here."

Yuka's hands balled up into fists. "If we don't do anything, Chika-neesan and Piyomon will die!" she shouted at Devidramon. "We have to at least distract him!"

Devidramon didn't say anything, but he turned his attention back to the battle.

Yuka was surprised that her body hadn't burst into flames already. She briefly glanced up to see Slash Angemon looking like it was loosing more ground against Dominimon's attack.

She turned back to her partner. "Damn it Devidramon!"

The dragon didn't say anything, but he did bend down.

Yuka blinked.

"Get on," Devidramon said, his voice flat and emotionless.

Yuka smiled and ran over to her partner. "Thank you Devidramon." She quickly climbed on his back. "Let's go!"

With that commanded, Devidramon took to the sky, heading towards the two clashing angels.

"When do you want me to attack?" Devidramon asked.

Yuka just smirked. "You don't need to. Just get me up to where I can."

Devidramon didn't say anything for a moment. "You're insane!"

But that didn't stop him from doing what she asked.

Yuka nodded. "Maybe, but it's time for me to show just what I learned from Masaru-niisan!" She raised her fist, her violet digisoul flaring around it.

Dominimon's blade was getting closer to Slash Angemon's neck, and Slash Angemon's swords were starting to crack. "You two are finished! Piyomon! Daimon! I'm sending the two of you to hell where you belong!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Yuka shouted, leaping off of her partner's back towards Dominimon, her fist pulled back.

"What?!" Dominimon shouted in shock-

--seconds before Yuka's fist slammed into the side of his face.

Dominimon's head snapped back from the force of the blow.

Yuka smirked as she saw the glow around Dominimon's sword fade away... seconds before she began plummeting to the ground.

Yuka's smile didn't fade as she saw Slash Angemon plunge of of its swords through the staggering Dominimon's chest.

Yuka's attention was then taken by the small burst of pain as she collided with a very familiar back. She laughed, turning to get a better hold on her partner. "Thanks bro!"

Devidramon sighed. "You. Are. Insane!"

Yuka closed her eyes. "You know you love me anyway."

Devidramon didn't say anything, and Yuka figured he was smiling. At least she hoped he was smiling. She opened her eyes and turned her attention to the defeated Dominimon, watching as Slash Angemon pulled its sword from his chest.

Dominimon coughed, and a cloud of data specks shot out of his mouth, even as the were now gushing out of his chest. Yuka winced when she saw that, her mind instantly making the connection that the data flecks pouring out of Dominimon was his blood.

But even so, she was glad that the angel wasn't going to be able to hurt anymore innocent people. Maybe he'd be a better digimon in his next life.

Dominimon snarled, his blade vanishing. "My... comra... will not stand for this!" He coughed up more flecks of data. "You will... never... be..." That's all he was able to get out before he dissolved into data.

Slash Angemon's swords vanished, and the three of them watched for Dominimon's digiegg to form.

It was a few minutes before they realized that it wasn't going to happen.


	10. Truth

Yuka looked at the empty space where Dominimon had been flying. There should've been an egg there, it wasn't like he had been blasted by a Gizmon when they weren't looking. She nudged Devidramon a bit to turn towards Slash Angemon. Part of her still couldn't believe that the angel flying in front of her was both Chika and Piyomon. The idea was just too... weird. "Where's the digiegg?" she asked, figuring she should ask something that was clearly wrong and not just her probably being inattentive in class.

Slash Angemon frowned. "I don't know," it said in a voice that was clearly Chika.

Yuka looked down at the digimon and humans still on File Island. A lot of the people down there seemed extremely happy.

And then there was Relena's snarl of fury.

Devidramon and Slash Angemon slowly flew down to the beach. Once they landed, Yuka quickly dismounted and turned back to Slash Angemon. She barely noticed when Devidramon devolved.

Slash Angemon began glowing brightly, splitting back into Piyomon and Chika and gently landing on the sand. Chika looked around the group, the pink heart symbol still glowing faintly on her forehead.

It was so much like the one on Relena's chest...

Relena ran past Yuka at that moment, growling. "You killed my father!" she shouted, throwing a punch at Chika's face.

Chika effortlessly caught the younger girl's fist in the palm of her hand. Her eyes narrowed at Relena, but Yuka could tell that it wasn't in anger, but she couldn't really tell why...

Relena's snarl just got more feral at that. "You killed my father!" She swung her other fist, Chika knocking this one away with her forearm.

Before Relena could do anything else, Chika flipped the young girl around and did something that Yuka didn't see, but caused Relena to collapse onto the ground.

Yuka had no idea what was going on. Why knock Relena out? Why didn't she just say that she didn't do it!? She hear Tsukaimon whimper next to her. "Chika-neesan, Relena's just confused, right?" she pleaded.

Chika didn't say anything. She just scooped Relena's limp body up in her arms.

"Chika-neesan!"

The older woman just turned to look at her, and Yuka finally realized what the look in Chika's eyes was.

It was guilt.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom Magnum

Chapter 10: Truth

.o0o.

Takuya still didn't have much idea about what had just happened. He knew that General Dominimon was... well, nuts, but still! A hybrid jogressing with a digimon to become their famous seventh currently missing leader? He shook his head, and turned back to the others. "Get on the ship, we need to leave."

Tomoki panicked. "But what about..."

"We're leaving," Takuya repeated. He knew what the younger boy was asking about, but right now they needed to get back home. He turned back and started walking towards that woman and her Piyomon... the two beings that made up Lord Slash Angemon.

"Piyomon..." Takuya began. "I'm sorry we couldn't wait for you guys back in Yokohoma."

Piyomon shook his head. "It's fine."

Takuya tried not to let his relief show. He also didn't want to think what Slash Angemon could do to them if properly angered. Although if he became Ardhamon... then he might have a chance at not being murdered instantly. He shook his head. "Let Relena know I said goodbye, okay?"

Piyomon nodded.

With that, Takuya turned away and headed back towards the docks where they had left their ship. Once he got there he looked at it for a moment. The ship was a modest size... for about ten people to live in. He saw Izumi and the others already on the ship. She turned to him, her eyes wide. "Takuya!"

"Hey," he answered, climbing on before turning his attention to Chiaki, who had taken her normal position of behind the ships wheel. She was looking over at him.

Waiting for orders.

That's what this little group was after all. His squad.

...He missed when they were all just siblings. It was easier.

"Alright, let's get going. Once we're out of sight from the port, turn around and go to the other side of the island." Chiaki nodded, and the ship started to move.

Takuya once again thanked Seraphimon in his head for this boat, glad that it wasn't relying on sails and Izumi to move. He turned back and looked at the others. Tomoki and Junpei were sitting down at one of the tables on the deck, playing cards to pass the time until they were needed to do something.

Katsuharu and Teppei were keeping an eye on their digivices, waiting a message from either Seraphimon, Ophanimon, or Cherubimon. He didn't blame the two of them. What happened on File Island was disturbing.

Dominimon had acted on his own, and teamed up with Kurata. Doing something that drastic, even for one of the six... five generals, was bound to cause some problems. And Dominimon seemed to hate Virus digimon more than hybrids, which if any of his subordinates were left, was good to know.

Takuya shook his head. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about things large scale like that. If he was thinking about anything for his involvement in the Virus Busters, he should just focus on their mission. Besides, Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon were probably looking into it at this very moment. He shook his head again and scanned the sea line, his gaze eventually resting on Izumi.

The blonde haired girl was leaning against the railing of the ship, staring out at sea. Away from him. Takuya walked over to her, getting closer until she could see the frown on her face. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Izumi didn't say anything, and Takuya knew what was wrong. Or at least he was pretty sure he did. "I'm worried about Dominimon's actions too, but Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon are probably looking into it right now."

"You're an idiot," Izumi said, sighing. "That's not what's bothering me."

Takuya just blinked. And stared.

"Okay, it bothers me a bit, but there's nothing I can do about that, no matter how much I would try."

"Then what's wrong?" Takuya asked. This was really confusing.

Izumi looked over at him, her green eyes peering into his unnervingly. "I'm worried about you. I think you were acting stupid with Relena."

Takuya groaned. That was what was wrong? "I can't believe you're jealous!"

Izumi's gaze hardened into a piercing glare. "That's not why you idiot!" she shouted before taking a deep breath. "Have you forgotten what that crazy Noriko chick did to Teppei? Or what Takeshi did to me?"

"Relena isn't like that!" Takuya protested. "Besides, it's not like I'll ever see her again anyway."

Izumi huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You've known her for a week! Besides, outsiders always hurt us Takuya. It's been that way since the spirits chose us, and it isn't going to change!"

Takuya turned away. He didn't want to hear this anymore.

"Takuya!"

"It doesn't matter!" Takuya shouted. "Relena's like us!"

"She isn't! And even if she was we need to be careful anyway!"

"It'll be fine," Takuya said, before he started walking to the other side of the ship. Izumi didn't follow him, which was just fine by him. He noticed that during his conversation with Izumi, Chiaki had turned the ship around.

Tomoki just walked up to him. "Takuya-oniisan? Is everything okay?" the young boy asked.

Takuya sighed. Tomoki, and probably everyone else, must've heard him and Izumi. He should've been more careful. Or quiet. He turned to the younger boy. "Everything's fine. Izumi's just being a little bit concerned, that's all."

"She doesn't like Relena and Yuka very much, does she?" Tomoki asked.

Takuya scratched the back of his head. "So you heard?"

Tomoki nodded.

"Don't worry about it. She's just being cautious after Takeshi."

"But they aren't like that!" Tomoki protested.

"I know, but Izumi doesn't like taking chances."

Tomoki turned away. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?"

Takuya blinked. What brought that on? He placed a hand on Tomoki's shoulder. "We're trying to stop the Seven Demon Kings from retuning. You know they can't come back. The world would probably be destroyed if that happened."

"That's not what I'm taking about," Tomoki answered. "Are we really doing the right thing being part of the Virus Busters?"

Takuya blinked, but then it hit him. Yuka's partner was a virus. He smiled, gently turning the younger boy around. "Don't worry, her partner's not likely to be the child form of a Demon King. We aren't going to have to fight Yuka."

Tomoki blushed. "You sure?"

Takuya nodded. "I'm sure! And even if it does come to that, none of us will fault you for sitting out of it."

Tomoki smiled a bit, but Takuya knew instantly that it was forced. "Thanks, Takuya-oniisan."

"Anytime" Takuya said, taking his hand off of the other boy's shoulder.

Tomoki ran back to Junpei, and Takuya turned back to the view of the ocean.

File Island, once again was not that far off from their location.

It wouldn't be long now before they picked up Kouji and headed back to base.

And hopefully to some answers.

.o0o.

Yuka looked over at Relena's unconscious body. She was shaking. There had to be some mistake with what just happened recently. Chika-neesan couldn't have killed Relena's father! The young girl looked down at her partner who was resting on her lap. He was frowning, and Yuka thought that he might start crying at any moment.

She heard the door open and turned her head to see a worried looking Miyako walk into the room. "Is what Relena accused Chika-neesan of doing true?" The woman didn't say anything, and Yuka glared at the woman. "Tell me! I'm sick and tired of not knowing what's going on!"

Miyako shook her head. "Touma and Ikuto are coming to pick you three up. They'll be here in a couple of hours."

Yuka glared, but didn't say anything else.

Miyako left the room, and Yuka turned back to the still unconscious Relena. After a moment, she went and grabbed Relena's hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"Relena..."

.o0o.

Takuya sighed as the ship moved closer to the island. He looked over at the beach, the others except for Chikai doing the same.

"Do any of you see Kouji?" Chiaki asked from her post at the ship's helm.

"Not yet!" Tomoki answered.

Takuya sighed and kept looking. He still didn't understand why Seraphimon had only given the mission to Kouji and just had the rest of them wait for him to finish.

"There he is!" Izumi shouted.

Takuya looked over at where Izumi was pointing. A wolf like figure was running towards the ocean, white armor covering his body. Why was Kouji evolved into Garmmon? He shouldn't have needed to stay at that level after...

Before Takuya could even react, Kouji leaped into the air. What the hell was he doing?

Once Kouji was over the ship, digicode appeared around his body and he reverted into a teenage human, landing on the deck effortlessly. Takuya just sighed at him. "Show off."

Kouji laughed at him. "You know someone has to do it now that you've seemed to become me."

Takuya just glared at him.

"How'd the mission go?" Izumi asked.

Kouji then turned serious. Takuya knew that the black haired boy couldn't act like he had been for long. "It was a waste of time. That Devimon would've only evolved into a Deathmon if he reached Ultimate."

Takuya groaned. "What a pointless waste of life! Why is it like this every time!?"

Terou frowned. "What well-known virus digimon are left? We've been through Devimon, Etemon, and even that Vamdemon on Server."

Teppi and Katsuharu nodded in agreement.

"I have no idea, but Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon will figure it out," Takuya answered.

No one said anything for a moment. That is , until Kouji decided to break the silence. "Have you guys heard anything from Kouichi?"

Takuya turned around and shook his head. "No we haven't. We've been just as out of contact with him as we were with you."

Kouji huffed.

Izumi frowned. "I'm kinda worried actually. Something might've happened to him."

"I'm sure Cherubimon would've told us if something did happen," Junpei said, walking up and wrapping an arm around her waist.

She didn't do anything but lean on his chest.

"But what if Cherubimon doesn't know what happened to him?" Katsuharu asked. "I mean, it isn't like he's all knowing or anything."

Takuya shook his head, and he saw Junpei glare at the other boy. "Either way, we don't know anything."

It was about that time that their digivices started beeping. As one, all nine of them grabbed their digivices.

It seemed like they might get answers soon that they thought...

... that or their next mission.

.o0o.

It had been a couple of hours, but Relena was still asleep. Yuka felt even more horrible than she had before. The young girl took Relena's hand again and gave it another squeeze.

The older teenager's eyelids started moving. "Relena!" Yuka shouted in shock.

Relena blinked, and turned her head to look at Yuka. The teenager had a confused look on her face. "Why do you seem so worried?"

Yuka didn't answer, she just threw her arms around the older girl. "You're okay!"

Relena did do anything but let out a gasp. Yuka was hurt, before remembering that if things had been reversed, she'd be wondering who the pod-Relena hugging her really was. So after a couple of moments, Yuka pulled away.

Relena looked like she wanted to ask something else, but she got pounced by a happy Tsukaimon instead. She blinked, absentmindedly petting Tsukaimon on the head, still looking baffled.

Yuak smiled at that, but it soon turned into a frown. It was like Relena didn't remember anything that had happened. "Are you okay?"

Relena blinked. "Yeah, why would..." The blonde's eyes then widened and her lips curled down into a frown. "Where's Chika?" her voice had a sharp edge to it.

Yuka shrugged. She didn't know where Chika was, and right now?

She didn't really want to know.

Tsukaimon backed away from Relena as the blonde brought herself out of bed. "Where's my digivice?"

Yuka pointed to the nearby night table where Relena's digivice lay. The blonde went and grabbed it before heading over to the door. Yuka jumped up and placed a hand on the older girl's shoulder, which was really awkward since she was a little shorter than the blonde. "Are you seriously thinking about attacking Chika right now!?''

"Let go of me!" Relena shouted.

"You're being an idiot!" Yuka shouted. "You don't stand a chance right now!"

"She killed my father!"

Tsukaimon let out a squeak.

"How would your father feel if you got yourself killed in a hopeless fight!? She and Piyomon can become an Ultimate!"

Relena didn't say anything, but Yuka saw the older girl's fist clench. She gave Relena's shoulder a quick squeeze. The blonde sighed, and her fist relaxed a bit.

Yuka smiled.

Both of the girl's head snapped towards the door as they heard the knob turn. A moment later, Miyako came walking into the room.

Yuka's hand fled from Relena's shoulder before she could even think to do it.

And with that, Relena suddenly tensed up and walked towards the woman. "Did you know that Chika killed my father!?"

Miyako didn't say anything for a moment. "Ikuto and Touma-kun are here."

Yuka normally would've felt happy to see her brother after everything that just happened, but Miyako not answering Relena's question made her feel like her heart had somehow fallen into her stomach.

Relena growled at Miyako. "Answer my question!"

Miyako's fists clenched. "Yes!" she finally said.

Yuka and Tsukaimon let out a gasp. She thought that maybe Relena was wrong and Chika didn't kill Relena's dad, but just hearing it like that...

Light purple digisoul suddenly exploded around Relena's body, her digivice clenched in her hand.

"Don't even try it," Miyako said, violet digisoul flaring around her body as well. "Considering what your father and Kurata did to her, he's lucky Chika just killed him!" A red digivice shot out of the woman's sleeve and appeared in her hand. "I may not have had the digivice to use it recently, but I can still take you out before you get very far."

Relena growled, her digisoul fading from her body.

Yuka could feel tears on her cheeks now. "What did he do?"

"He gave Chika to Kurata so he could experiment on her, perfecting the procedure that he had done on Relena!" Miyako shouted. "His funding of that bastard is why the entire world's still at war!"

Relena gasped, moving back a bit. "That's not true!"

"That's not all he did either! He gave my partner, someone who looked up to Chika like a big sister, to Kurata to use as raw materials!"

The tears were now pouring out of Yuka's eyes. That couldn't be what really happened! Relena's father couldn't have been that horrible!

"You're lying!" Relena shouted.

"Am I?" Miyako asked. "You were nothing but a little kid back then. What did you really know what you're traitor father was really doing?"

Tsukaimon let out a whimper, and flew in front of Relena. "That's enough!" he shouted.

Yuka looked over at Tsukaimon. What did her partner think he was doing? They had asked for the truth.

"And that doesn't even count what your father did to you and your V-mon!" Miyako added.

"What do you mean?!" Relena shouted as Yuka saw Tsukaimon inflate, before blasting out a purple ball of air at Miyako.

Miyako's digisoul appeared again and she effortlessly batted the attack through a nearby window, the glass shattering on impact. "Remember how you were told V-mon chose to fuse with you? That was a lie. He wasn't given a choice. He was killed before he even knew what the choice was!"

Relena fell to her knees and started sobbing.

Yuka clenched her fists.

"Miyako-san!" A very familiar voice shouted. Yuka turned to the door, seeing Ikuto and Touma standing in the doorway.

"Ikuto-nii..." Yuka said, trailing off with a glance at Relena.

Ikuto and Touma ran forward, the later crouching to his sister's side. Relena wrapped her arms around Touma's neck, while the blond haired doctor shot a glare at Miyako. "Leave this to us. Go wait outside."

Miyako didn't say anything, but just left the room.

Ikuto walked over to Yuka. "Are you okay Yuka?"

Yuka nodded. She'd be fine, but she was worried about Relena.

Ikuto let out a small smile. "Let's leave them alone for now."

Yuka nodded, and started walking out of the room with her brother and Tsukaimon, leaving Relena and Touma behind.


	11. Consequences of Truth

_Yuka followed after Ikuto-nii, practically bouncing up and down as she walked. She and Tsukaimon were finally allowed into DATS!_

_... Although randomly evolving Tsukaimon into Devidramon without a digivice probably wasn't a good thing, since Ik-nii was frowning. _

_It's not like it was her fault that those jerks had annoyed her and Tsukaimon like that!_

_... Then again... Yuka looked down at her frowning partner in her arms. She guessed it was probably odd for him, suddenly becoming a demon dragon like that. She gave him a quick squeeze. "You were awesome!"_

"_No... It was scary!" Tsuakimon protested._

_Yuka saw Ik-nii flinch out of the corner of her eyes. She just kept concentrating on her partner. "Of course you were awesome! Really awesome!"_

_Tsukaimon's eyes lit up a bit, and Yuka snuggled her partner some more._

"_Yuka! This is serious!" Ik-nii exclaimed, turning around. "You need to learn to control yourself!"_

_.o0o._

Broken Dreams

Written by CustomMagnum

Chapter 11: Consequences of Truth

.o0o.

Yuka followed after Ikuto-nii, her eyes looking down at the ground. Tsukaimon was riding on her head, and she could tell her partner wasn't happy either. "Ikuto-nii..." Yuka began, stopping. She didn't know how to ask what she wanted to, or even if she should ask what she wanted too...

... but that wasn't right. This was important. She needed to know it.

Ikuto turned around to face Yuka, his hand going up to readjust the collar of his closed dark violet DATS jacket. "What's wrong Yuka?"

Yuka took a deep breath. It was now or never. "Is all the stuff that Miyako-san said about Chika and Relena's father true?"

Ikuto frowned. That? Didn't mean good things. "She shouldn't have said any of that."

Yuka glared at her brother. So it was true. "Chika did kill Relena's father."

"Yuka..." Ikuto began.

Yuka's eyes narrowed. "How long did you know?"

Ikuto didn't answer. Yuka could feel the lava in her veins flowing rapidly. Was everything she knew about Chika a lie!?

"At the time it happened..." Ikuto finally said, turning away from her. "After what Kurata did to her and Mr. Norstein's connections to him, no one in DATS could actually justify arresting Chika."

Yuka huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "So I guess when Relena goes nuts and kills Chika in revenge, she's going to get away with it too, Ik-nii?"

Ikuto sharply turned back to face her. "It's not the same! Franz knew what Kurata was, and betrayed all of us anyway!"

"And if that was why Chika killed him, I might believe you!" Yuka answered coldly, turning away from her older brother.

"Yuka..." Tsukaimon cooed from his perch.

"Yuka!"

She didn't really want to hear Ikuto's excuses for Chika. It was obvious that no matter what they said, Chika was the one who was wrong.

"Yuka!" Ikuto shouted again. She let out a sigh. "Maybe wanting to be part of DATS was a mistake if this is the kind of things you guys do..." she mumbled, before she started walking away.

"Yuka!" Ikuto shouted.

Yuka started running.

"Yuka! Why are you running from Ikuto!?" Tsukaimon asked, now gripping her shoulder for dear life.

Yuka looked back, and realized that her brother had given up on following her. That seemed kinda quick, but she wasn't going to worry about it right now. She slowed down a bit, and finally turned her attention to Tsukaimon. "I just need some time to think. I can't trust anything a DATS agent says right now."

"But Yuka..."

"But nothing!" Yuka took a deep breath. She had to keep things in perspective here. It wasn't Tsukaimon's fault that everything was happening; that everything she thought she knew about DATS being the good guys seemed to be a lie. "Come on," she said softly, gesturing for her partner to fly into her arms.

Tsukaimon blinked, and slowly flew down into her arms.

Yuka held the small digimon to her chest. "It's just, they let Chika get away with murder. DATS agents are supposed to be the good guys. Good guys don't do things like that or let one who does get away with it, right?"

Tsukaimon blinked up at her. "But lots of people think I'm supposed to be evil..."

Yuka's eyes widened and she wrapped her arms tighter around her partner. "That's different! You have no control over how you were born! No one said that Chika needed to kill Relena's dad!"

Tsukaimon didn't say anything, but Yuka could tell by the way that he was nuzzling against her that he was still upset. She moved one of her hands to rub the top of his head. She kept walking, having no real destination in mind. There was no reason to interrupt Touma and Relena right now, and she didn't want to see Chika or her brother.

"You told them!?" Yuka heard Chika shout... right in front of the area they were wandering towards. She looked forward, but she didn't find them anywhere... but there was an open window. She moved closer to it and looked out of it.

Both Chika and Miyako were standing in front of the hotel. Chika looked rather pissed, and was glaring at the violet haired woman.

"Of course I did!" Miyako shouted back. "They needed to know why you killed him!"

"No matter what my reason was at the time, that doesn't change that I took away Relena's father! How did you expect her to react!?"

"He gave us to Kurata for that bastard's sick experiments!" Miyako shouted. "That monster gave us to a psychopath that stabbed you through the heart and tore it to shreds just to see what would happen when he made you a bio-hybrid afterwards!"

Chika turned away from Miyako. "That still doesn't make what I did to Franz right! If I hadn't been fused to Hawkmon and you didn't also go through it, I wouldn't have killed him!"

Miyako just stared. "I loved Hawkmon too Chika, but seriously! What Franz let Kurata do to you was horrible! He deserved to die for that!"

"You'd be saying differently if I didn't kill him before you got the chance!" Chika shouted.

Yuka blinked when she heard that, and she looked down at Tsukaimon. He wasn't looking that happy either, and he looked up and gave her look that reminded her of a puppy. "Don't give me that look," she told him. So Chika regretted killing Relena's dad? Like that erased killing him in the first place. "If Kurata suddenly said he was sorry for everything he did, would you forgive him?"

Tsukaimon didn't answer her.

Yuka heard Miyako groan in annoyance. "We'll never agree on this, will we Chika?"

"No, we won't."

"Alright then," Miyako said. "I'm heading back to Yokohoma."

"You're pregnant!" Chika shouted. "You can't be seriously thinking of going off to fight!"

"What am I supposed to do!?" Miyako shouted back. "I need to find Ken. I can't just wait to hear that the Virus Buster's killed him!"

"Miyako-kun..."

"Forget it, I don't want to hear it from you right now. Goodbye Chika..."

Yuka finally looked out the window again just in time to see Miyako walking away. Chika ran up after her, putting a hand on the other woman's shoulder.

Miyako slapped it way.

"Miyako!" Chika shouted.

Miyako just ignored Chika and kept running off. Chika looked like she was going to follow the other woman, but she didn't end up moving from her spot.

Yuka turned around and started heading back to the room. She doubted Relena could ever forgive Chika, but at least the older woman didn't seem to want it. Or rather she had decided not to even try. Yuka wasn't sure which, or really cared.

Tsukaimon nuzzled against her chest.

It didn't take Yuka long to get to where the room was, but she noticed that the door was left open. She hurried through it...

... only to see Takuya standing in the room, Doctor Norstein laying down at his feet.

"What's going on here!?" Yuka shouted. "Doctor Norstein! Relena!"

Tsukaimon leaped out of her arms and glared at the older brunette.

No one in the room said anything to her. "Do you really want to stay with the group of liars in DATS?"

Relena didn't say anything, looking back and forth between her brother and Takuya.

"Relena!" Yuka shouted, only to be tackled by a very cold object.

Yuka rolled on the floor and sprang to her feet.

Tsukaimon shot out a purple sphere of air in the cold thing's direction.

Yuka clenched her fist, her digisoul flaring into existence around it. She then gasped when she realized just who had tackled her, her digisoul vanishing. "Tomoki!?"

Tomoki, already evolved into his bio-hybrid, form had a sad look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Yuka..."

And with that, something that looked like a missile launcher appeared in his hands, and a violent torrent of snowballs came shooting at her.

.o0o.

Everything was happening so fast. First her brother was explaining everything that her father had supposedly let Kurata do to Chika. Not that Relena actually thought that was a decent excuse, even if her father did hire Kurata to save her, he still wouldn't have given Chika or anyone else to use for experiments. And then Touma was on the ground, and Takuya was suddenly in the room.

"What's..." she began saying, looking between her fallen brother and Takuya. She would've ran up to her brother to check if he was okay, but she was still really pissed off at him. He knew that Chika killed father and he let her get away with it!

Takuya looked over at her. "Do you really want to stay with DATS?"

Relena froze, sorta hearing someone yell at her, but she ignored the voice. Her attention kept switching between Takuya and her brother, but she didn't know what to do. "What do you mean?"

"Leave and come with me and the others," Takuya answered.

She blinked at him, and finally moved over to Touma. He was still breathing, but he was definitely knocked out. She turned back to Takuya. "You know, generally attacking a girl's family is a really stupid way to get her to elope so you can get into her pants?" she asked, a sharp edge in her voice.

Takuya just blinked at her. "This has nothing to do with that. At all."

"Then what do you want?"

"Seraphimon and the other leaders are offering you a chance to join the Virus Busters."

Relena let out a gasp and stepped back, a shiver going through her body. "But, you guys fought against the attack just a few hours ago... why did you?"

Takuya shook his head. "We fought against Dominimon. He's always been more extreme than the other leaders."

Relena didn't know what to say. Part of her didn't want to join a genocidal group like that... but what if Takuya wasn't lying.

She saw Takuya look at her questionably for a bit, before walking over to her. Relena felt her heart leap against her chest. She stepped back, nearly stumbling over something.

Her head snapped back to where Touma was. He still wasn't awake.

"Do you really want to stay with those liars at DATS?" Takuya asked. "Are you going to stay with the woman who killed your father?"

Relena froze at him. "I... I..."

Takuya sighed. "What will it be?" he asked.

Relena stared at him. And then she made her decision.

.o0o.

"Why are you doing this Tomoki!" Yuka shouted, dodging the hailstorm of snowballs headed her way. She saw Tsukaimon glare at Tomoki, and she wouldn't be surprised if a glare was in her eyes too.

"I'm just following orders Yuka," Tomoki answered. "Don't interfere and I won't have to hurt you two!"

Yuka clenched her fist and ran forward. "Who the hell do you work for!?" she shouted, throwing a punch at Tomoki's stomach, only to have his freezing hands grab her arm. She held back a yelp, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Do you really have no idea?" Tomoki asked kinda coldly, before spinning around while still holding onto her arm.

Yuka tried punching is arms with her other hand, but that didn't seem to be getting her anywhere. It wasn't long before Tomoki let go though, sending her crashing against the nearby wall.

Needles of pain shot down Yuka's back as she slumped down to the floor, letting out a gasp as she struggled to her feet. "... So you guys do work for the Virus Busters!" she asked. "Then why did you fight against Dominimon's invasion!?"

"Dominimon was a crazy zealot," Tomoki answered, walking closer to Yuka and Tsukaimon.

Tsukaimon glared and sent out another blast of purple fog at Tomoki, who just knocked it away.

Yuka looked around the hallway, but there was no way that Tsukaimon could evolve in here. Devidramon was way too big. "Zealot's are what you're stupid army is made up of!"

Tomoki let out a growl. "That isn't true. We just want to prevent the Demon Kings from coming back!"

Yuka tightened her fist, digisoul igniting around it. "So you kill all the virus digimon to do it?!" she shouted, charging towards Tomoki again, her fist pulled back.

Tomoki went to grab her arm again, but this time she was ready. She darted to the side and ran past him, before quickly turning around and planting her fist into his back.

Tomoki grunted as he stumbled forward, almost falling flat on his face. He turned around rather quickly. "Not at all. Just the ones with a high chance of being one of the Demon Kings lower forms."

Yuka glared at him. "You have no way of knowing who that will be before they evolve!" she shouted at him. "That just makes it the same thing!"

Tomoki materialized his snowball launcher again, but didn't fire it this time, even though he pointed it at her head. "Don't make this harder than it has to be Yuka! Please!"

Yuka felt like she could melt the ice hybrid just by touching him at this point. "What are you here for!?" she shouted, even knowing that she couldn't do anything against him.

He didn't answer her, and Yuka glared at him. Finally he sighed. "Our leaders want us to extend an invitation to someone, and I'm here to make sure you don't interfere."

Yuka's eyes widened. It all made some sort of sense now. "You guys want Relena."

Tomoki didn't answer her, and Yuka didn't know how she was going to be able to get past him. But she needed to get back to Relena, now. She dove to the side, but Tomoki just followed her with his launcher. She snarled and focused her digisoul in her feet. Hopefully she'd be able to outrun his aim.

All she was able to do was barely outrun a barrage of snowballs from him. This wasn't good.

She saw Tomoki blink for a moment. "I'm sorry Yuka." And with that, he fired another hailstorm from his launcher.

The snowballs slammed into her side and sent her crashing into the wall again. Yuka was pretty sure that if she turned around she would find a Yuka-shaped indent in the wall. She fell to the ground, grimacing in pain.

Tsukaimon charged at Tomoki and got blasted into the wall right next to her.

She got to her feet slowly. There was no way that she was getting out of this. She saw Tomoki raise his launcher again and prepared to fire it at her...

"SHURIKEN!"

A storm of shuriken sped towards Tomoki, slamming and cutting into the hybrid's hands. He let out a hiss of pain.

Yuka turned around slightly to see Ikuto and Falcomon running down the hall, Falcomon throwing more shuriken at her attacker.

Tomoki ducked out of the way, the shuriken slamming into the wall.

"Ikuto-nii!" Yuka shouted. Ikuto had his large boomerang in his hands, and he swung it at Tomoki like it was an over-sized club. "Run Yuka!"

Ikuto didn't need to tell her twice. "Be careful!" Before hearing his answer, she turned to her partner. "Come on Tsukaimon!"

And with that, Yuka and Tsukaimon turned and ran. They needed to get to Relena and they needed to do it now.

"Yuka!" Tomoki shouted.

Yuka didn't answer him, running back towards the room. She heard Ikuto let out a scream, and she kept running.

It didn't take the two of them long to get to the room, but when she crashed through the door the only person still in it was Touma. And he was still lying on the floor.

Relena was gone.


	12. Karma

_Chika pushed against the cold metal restraints binding her to the ice-like operating table, but no matter how much she struggled, nothing happened. She was trembling, icy pinpricks going through her bare back and turning her entire body to ice. She needed to get out of here!_

_Her digisoul burst to life around her bare body, its orange light giving the metal of the room an eerie glow._

_And the restraints still wouldn't budge against her attempts to escape. Tears started flowing down her cheeks, which quickly became sobs. What was going to happen to her?_

_Three figures, all male, walked into the room. _

_Chika's eyes widened and she frantically called her digisoul around her body again, shoving at the restraints along her wrist and ankles with the same ferocity that she had used in previous fights. They could see all of her, and she needed TO BREAK FREE NOW!_

_One of the men just laughed._

_Chika's eyes widened at that voice. She couldn't see his face at the moment, but she would know that voice anywhere._

_Kurata was here._

_Chika couldn't breathe. He could see EVERYTHING! SHE NEEDED TO BREAKFREE!_

_The restraints didn't budge at all._

_Kurata just kept laughing and walked closer up to her. "I'm sorry Daimon-kun... but you aren't getting out of here like that." There was something in his hands, but Chika couldn't make it out with the crappy lighting of this room._

"_Let me go!" she half-shouted half-sobbed, still pushing against the restraints and still getting nowhere, her bare breasts bouncing up and down from the force of her attempts at escaping._

"_I'm afraid I can't do that... Chika-chan," Kurata began, moving closer to her and caressing her cheek with his free hand._

_Chika's body froze in a way that was not related to the cold table that she was laying on right now. Kurata was touching her. Kurata's HANDWASONHER!?_

"_DON'T TOUCH ME!" Chika shouted, trying to turn her head. Hopefully she would be able to bite his fingers off or SOMETHING!_

_The shackle on her neck kept her head from moving, yet somehow allowed her to keep breathing._

_Kurata chuckled again and removed his hand, and bringing a rather long jagged looking blade in his other hand to rest against her breast, the point nicking the skin._

_Chika instantly stopped struggling against the restraints. If she tried again that blade would probably slip right into her heart._

"_Norstein-sama wants me to cure that little girl's disease for a rather large sum of money, and I need to make sure that it'll work on her," Kurata started._

_Chika didn't know why he was bothering to tell her any of this, tears still flowing down her cheeks. Why wasn't Masaru-niichan here? Takeru-kun? Ikuto? Why weren't they saving her?_

"_Now, we need to make sure that this process can restart a failed heart, and there's only so much data animal testing can give us," Kurata continued, and Chika was repulsed by the absolute GLEE in his voice._

_The blade was raised and quickly sped down towards Chika's heart..._

_... and then her chest burst into flames and Chika..._

_.o0o._

Broken Dreams

Written by: CustomMagnum

Chapter 12: Karma

.o0o.

... woke up screaming, her hands clutching her left breast.

"Chika!" Piyomon shouted, running over to her and wrapping his wings around her body.

Chika sobbed, her hands moving from her chest and clutching Piyomon's wings. She wasn't on that lab table anymore. She was alive. She was fine...

She was fine...

Chika took a deep breath and looked around. She and Piyomon were outside, sitting on a bench. "Why are we here?" she asked. Her hands tightened around her partner's wings. The last thing she remembered was her little fight with Miyako...

"You were exhausted after everything that happened," Piyomon explained. "I thought it would be better if you got some rest rather than trying to get you back to the hotel."

Chika sighed, wanting nothing more than to just be completely covered in Piyomon's embrace. The same way as when she was still eleven, before any of this had happened. "I thought I was done with that nightmare..."

Piyomon just tightened his hug on her. "We went through a lot this past week, and everything that has been happening is just a reminder of what happened. You're fine."

"No I'm not," Chika said, frowning. "I hate this. I'm horrible."

"Don't say that!"

"But it's true!" Chika shouted, tears gathering in her eyes again. "Hawkmon was fused with me just so Kurata could test something! I took Relena's father away from her!"

"It's okay..." Piyomon said soothingly.

"Then after that I went and slept with Ikuto to try to make me feel better!"

"... Chika. I'm pretty sure Ikuto wasn't very hurt by that."

Chika didn't say anything back to him. After the thing with Ikuto... there was Takeru as well...

... She was a horrible, manipulative bitch. Not only did she use Ikuto for cheap sex when she KNEW that he was doing it because he at least thought he loved her, but she then...

Chika took a deep breath, and focused on something, anything else. She couldn't afford to do this right now. "We need to go get ready to leave."

Piyomon released his hold on her, and blinked. "You sure?"

Chika nodded. She'd have time to mope around later, but right now there were more important things to do.

.o0o.

"Doctor Norstein!" Yuka shouted, running over to the fallen man. She knelt down and placed a hand on his back before she started shaking him. "Are you alright?"

"Yuka!" Tsukaimon shouted. "You shouldn't try to move him if he's hurt!"

Yuka stopped shaking him, suddenly freezing up. That was one of the first things that was hammered into her as a DATS Trainee. Until a medic showed up, avoid moving an injured comrade at all. She let out a curse...

... just in time for Doctor Norstein to start waking up.

"Are you alright?" she asked again.

Doctor Norstein shook his head and sat up. "I'll be fine..." he said.

Yuka let out a sigh of relief. Now all that was needed to figure out was... "Where's Relena?" she asked.

Doctor Norstein's face turned into a snarl. "I think she went with that boy that knocked me out, but I don't remember much about what he looks like."

... Yuka knew that was probably Takuya. But why would she leave her brother like this? "Did she say anything?"

Doctor Norstein struggled to his feet. "I didn't hear him say anything, but who knows how long I was knocked out. Either way, I need to go get to Relena. She needs to get away from him."

"But you're hurt!" Tsukaimon protested, flying up in front of Doctor Norstein's face. "Let me and Yuka go instead!"

Yuka looked out at the window, which was broken. "I think I know where they left."

"Thanks," Doctor Norstein said, limping over to the window. "Gaomon and I will go get her back now..." And with that, Touma fell back on the floor.

Yuka sighed. "You're way too hurt. We'll get her back." She then turned towards Tsukaimon. "You ready?"

Tsukaimon just answered by flying out the broken window, and Yuka wasted no time in evolving him into Devidramon. Seeing the dragon hovering outside, Yuka ran up and out the window onto his back.

Devidramon flew away from the hotel. "Where would they have gone?"

Yuka thought for a moment. Tomoki and his friends had seemed to leave the port from where the beach was, so they probably weren't there...

... but they were on an island! The entire thing had spots for a ship to land. "Turn around and start heading towards the coast. It's our only shot."

Devidramon nodded, and soon the two of them were headed towards the other side of the island, and they'd eventually where they were headed.

Or at least, Yuka hoped.

.o0o.

Chika was slowly heading back towards the hotel. While she and Piyomon did need to get ready to leave, she still didn't want to see Relena or Ikuto right now.

She couldn't face the girl now... and Ikuto. She could still barely even TALK to him.

Of course, the giant dragon with flame-decorated armor that flew above her head did throw her for a loop a bit...

... But Relena was in its arms, her head resting on its chest.

Chika instantly grabbed her digivice and turned to Piyomon. "Let's go." Purple digisoul surged around her fist and she brought it down on top of her digivice... where it suddenly shifted into orange. "Digisoul Charge!"

Piyomon quickly evolved into Aquilamon and bent down to let Chika climb on his back, staying there just long enough of her to get on before taking to the sky.

"Relena!" Chika shouted.

There was no answer... except for the dragon turning his head and a blast of fire headed their way.

Aquilamon dodged out of the way and let out a growl as he flew closer towards the dragon digimon. "Put her down!"

"Can't do that!" the dragon shouted. "She doesn't want to go back with you lying murderers!"

Chika gasped. That voice seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place who it was.

Aquilamon didn't seem to have that problem. "Put her down Takuya!"

The dragon stopped and turned around to look over at the two of them, and Relena was both fully aware and looking over at Chika, flames seeming to dance in her eyes.

"Relena! Please! Tell him to put you down!" Chika pleaded.

Relena's teeth clenched. "I hate you! Leave me alone!"

Chika looked down at Aquilamon. "Get ready for a fight." Violet digisoul gathered around her body.

And then Chika jumped off of her partner's back and quickly evolved to Bio Holsmon, and started flying towards Relena and Takuya.

"Get away from me!" Relena shouted before jumping out of Takuya's arms and evolving to Bio Lighdramon. She effortlessly landed on her feet and looked up and glared at Chika.

Chika flew down and landed on the ground across from the other hybrid... knowing that what was about to happen was all her fault. "Relena-chan..."

"Don't call me that!" Relena howled, lightning dancing around her.

A bolt of lightning suddenly sped towards Chika from Relena, and Chika dodged out of the way, looking over at Relena sadly. "Relena... stop this, please!"

"You killed my father!" Relena shouted, running forward and firing another bolt of lightning over at Chika.

Chika flew up and backwards out of the way of the blast, her eyes glowing red. "Red Sun!" she shouted, two beams firing from her eyes over at Relena.

Relena dodged that attack and pulled her head back, lightning gathering on the blade-horn... before slashing down with it and sending an arc of lightning headed in Chika's direction.

The blast hit Chika head on and the force of it sent her crashing into the ground. She got to her feet, letting out a grunt of pain. Relena was pretty good with fighting in her digimon form.

Chika fired off another blast of beams from her eyes.

Relena growled and weaved around both of the beams as she resumed her charge at Chika.

Chika took to the sky, spinning around as she ascended. The air around her visibly spiraled around her body...

... and caught the other hybrid up in the attack. Chika turned her attention to Relena and abruptly stopped her spin, sending a screaming Relena crashing down towards the ground.

Chika knew that she needed to knock out Relena in order to get her back home. There was no way she was coming back willingly. With that in mind, she dove down towards Relena and the ground, all four legs pulled back to increase her speed.

Chika only saw Relena's smirk a second before the teenager hybrid let loose a violent blast of lightning from around her entire body, which Chika soon felt right in her chest... before she was knocked back and slammed to the ground.

Chika struggled up to her feet, her eyes on the now once again land borne Relena... who immediately started charging at her, teeth barred.

Chika waited a few moments until Relena wouldn't be able to dodge anything, then sent a rapid fire spray of beams from her eyes.

The beams collied with Relena and sent her sprawling to the ground.

Chika moved back hesitantly as Relena brought herself to her feet.

Chika could now tell that Relena wasn't just mad and angry. Not like at the beach earlier. Now? Relena was truly, honestly trying to kill her.

And if Chika didn't stop treating her only as a traumatized child that needed to be protected... she might succeed.

.o0o.

Ikuto blocked an incoming blast of snow from the Chakmon with his oversized boomerang. Whoever this kid was, he was strong.

Falcomon appeared behind the digimon and threw a storm of shuriken at his back.

Chakmon let out a scream of pain and Ikuto's eyes widened at just how young he sounded. He couldn't have been older than Yuka was!

Chakmon growled, a strange bar code like digisoul appearing around him as he charged at Ikuto.

And started growing.

Ikuto didn't have to to process this as a now rather large fist sent him flying through a few nearby walls and now falling to the ground outside. He concentrated, his violet digisoul dancing around his body as he back flipped and landed on his feet. He panted, brushing a small drip of blood of the side of his face, ignoring the crater in the ground he was now standing in.

It wasn't that long before the digimon that had once been a Chakmon landed on the ground in front of him, specks of concrete flying up into the air as he landed. The digimon was a large humanoid beast thing that Ikuto knew some people would've called a Yeti over ten years ago.

He knew better. This thing was a Blizzarmon. The DATS agent let out a smirk as Falcomon flew after them, his hand grasping his digivice. "You lose Blizzarmon."

"We'll see about that!" Blizzarmon shouted, his voice much deeper now, axes appearing in his hands.

Ikuto wasn't worried. He had dealt with things far more worse than this before. "Digisoul Charge!" Ikuto shouted, his digisoul all shrinking down to his hand in a brilliant white light. "OVERDRIVE!"

A white beam shot out of Ikuto's digivice and slammed into Falcomon.

Blizzarmon looked on in shock as Falcomon's form shifted to that of a humanoid mad with white and black wings. "Ravemon!"

Blizzarmon backed away slowly, looking on at the newly evolved Ultimate in shock.

Ikuto walked forward, smirking. "Not so confident about your victory now that someone besides a twelve year old girl is fighting you?" he asked. Blizzarmon attacked his sister. He was not getting away with that.

"There's no more reason for us to fight!" Blizzarmon shouted.

Ravemon glared at him, his hand resting on his sword sheathed at his back. "You attacked our sister! We have every reason to keep fighting you!"

A blast of lightning mixed with a gust of wind slammed into Ravemon's chest suddenly, sending him staggering backwards.

"Ravemon!" Ikuto shouted, looking around and seeing more digimon appearing. One was a bird-woman, another was a blue-insect like cyborg tank, and finally there was one that didn't attack, a four legged wolf in white armor with two golden blades coming out of his back.

"Are you alright Tomoki!?" the wolf digimon asked.

Blizzarmon nodded. "Takuya got out with Relena, right?"

"We're not sure," the wolf digimon answered. "Teppi and the others went to go make sure."

Ikuto clenched his fist, his digisoul flaring across his body. All of these were together. Well in that case... "We'll take them all out Ravemon!"

"Alright!" Ravemon shouted, pulling out his sword and slamming it down into the earth. "Ame no Ohabari!" he shouted, the blade glowing purple before sending a blast of purple lightning heading towards Blizzarmon.

The insect cyborg moved with a speed that his large body wouldn't seem to be capable of, taking the brunt of the attack.

Ikuto ran forward and flung his boomerang at the bird-woman hybrid. She just dodged it effortlessly and flew over to him, fist pulled back and glowing with energy. He rolled to the side to avoid it, but the bird-woman just kept attacking him mercilessly.

The ferocity of her attacks strangely reminded him of Chika when they used to spar. It was all that Ikuto could do to keep dodging the attacks. He needed to find an opening, and fast. Ravemon wasn't going to be able to help him, he'd be too busy with the other three digimon.

And then Ikuto felt something hard slam into his chest and he found himself soaring through the air and then he smashed on the ground. He let out a groan and struggled to his feet, just in time to see the bird-woman flying towards him and ready to hit him again.

Ikuto waited until she thrust her arm at his head and then he quickly bent his knees, the digimon's punch sailing over his head. Now was the only chance he was going to get, and he sent his own digisoul powered punch at his attacker's stomach.

She let out a gasp and staggered backwards.

"Izumi!" the insect tank shouted before Ikuto realized a blast of lightning was heading towards him. He jumped out of the way, hearing the blast connect with something and explode. He turned to insect tank...

... Only to see a flash of gold blade about to lob off his head.


	13. Pleading

Ikuto knew that unless he got really lucky or thought of something fast, he was dead.

Thankfully, a sword appeared from behind him and knocked the blade aimed for his head away at the last moment. Ikuto smiled at that, but didn't turn around. "Thank you Ravemon!"

Ravemon broken away from the wolf-hybrid. "I won't let you get away with this!"

The wolf opened his mouth and fired a blast of light at Ravemon, who knocked it away effortlessly with his sword.

Ikuto ran towards the wolf and pulled his fist back. This needed to end now. He sent his punch forward and with a crack it connected with the wolf-hybrid's jaw, sending him staggering backwards. But he didn't have time to be happy about the strike, as a blast of wind slammed into him and sent him sprawling away. Ikuto rolled on his back and jumped to his feet, sending a glare at the bird-woman.

She returned Ikuto's glare for a moment, before flying up into the air. "Kouji! Jumpei! Tomoki! Let's get out of here!" she shouted.

"What about them?" the wolf-hybrid said as he got to his feet.

"Forget about them, they aren't our mission!"

Ikuto wasn't going to let them get away like that. "Ravemon!" he shouted.

"I'm on it!" Ravemon said back, flying towards the bird-woman with his sword drawn and ready to strike.

Ikuto looked around, and realized that he was now alone with three of the hybrids. His boomerang was lying on the ground, and it was probably his only chance at actually managing to survive this fight. He dove for it, grabbing it in his hands just in time to block another blade strike from the wolf.

The wolf digimon jumped back, angered. "This isn't working!" He was suddenly encased in a barcode-like digisoul. "Garmmon Slide Evolve!" he appeared from it as a humanoid warrior wearing a wolf's head helmet. "Wolfmon!" The new digimon charged towards Ikuto, grabbing a cylinder from his belt with sprang out a sword made out of light.

This wasn't going to end well.

.o0o.

Chika dodged another bolt of lightning from Relena, hating that it had to come to this. And it was all her fault. Five years ago, she had lost it...

Five years ago Chika had taken away Relena's father.

She fired off her eye beams at Relena, who dodged them near effortlessly and sent another blast of lightning at Chika.

Chika jumped out of the way. "Why are you leaving!?" she shouted. "I understand you hating me, but why are you leaving Touma!"

Relena growled at her. "My brother let you get away with it!" she shouted before charging over at Chika, teeth snapping at the older hybrid's neck.

Chika used one of her legs to smack Relena across the face, knocking her back a bit. Relena let out another growl at that, but Chika just stared at her. "It wasn't Touma's decision to make."

"I don't care what you have to say!" Relena shouted, charging and swiping at Chika with her claws.

Chika jumped back and fired off her eye beams at the ground in front of Relena.

Relena jumped back and glared at Chika, who was backing away slowly. Despite how hard Relena was fighting, Chika didn't think that she could bring herself to give it her all against the younger girl. This was all her fault to begin with, and there was no way to make it right.

Chika dodged an electrified swipe from Relena's claws and sent a swipe of her own at the other hybrid, knocking her down.

Relena smirked, and Chika had no time to react before she was blasted with another burst of lightning.

.o0o.

Aquilamon knew that this fight wasn't going to be easy when it started. That dragon digimon... no... Takuya was pretty powerful. Powerful enough that he wished Chika had remembered to evolve him to Garudamon before she went to fight Relena.

"You know that I'm not going to let you get to her, right?" Takuya asked.

Aquilamon glared at the dragon hybrid. "Sorry, but I'm not letting her be tricked that easily.

Takuya snarled, flames dancing around his body. "I'm sorry for what I need to do then." And with that, the flames shot towards Aquilamon in a vortex.

Aquilamon fiercely flapped his wings, a gale of wind colliding with the flame tornado and sending the flames away.

"If she doesn't want to stay with you guys, why fight it?!" Takuya shouted, sending a glare at Aquilamon.

Aquilamon flew forward at Takuya, opening his mouth and sending rings of energy out into the dragon's chest. "Sorry Takuya, but I know how the Virus Busters operated."

Takuya flapped his wings, two inverted prongs on his forearms folding down and aimed them at Aquilamon. The space between each blade began glowing red before a hailstorm of bullet-like flames shot out towards Aquilamon.

The bird digimon circled around Takuya, flying as fast as he could to stay ahead of the stream of flames. He needed to wait for the right moment to attack... until the flames suddenly hit him dead on, Takuya having quickly changed his target to in front of his path. Aquilamon screamed as he started to fall to the ground, flapping his wings... and then felt pain as Takuya punched him in the gut and then crashed into the ground. He struggled to his feet, trying to think of how he was going to finish this fight...

... but it looked like Takuya wasn't going to give him the chance.

.o0o.

Chika saw Aquilamon slam into the ground and Takuya landing to attack him. "Aquilamon!" she shouted, leaping away from her fight with Relena and flew as quickly as she could over to the other fight. Which was stupid, as it didn't take long before she felt a blast of lightning slam into her back, but through the pain she managed to stay airborne and kept heading to her partner.

She wasn't going to let anyone else she loved get hurt.

Chika spun around as she charged forward, sending a tornado of wind into Takuya's side, trying to keep him from going through with stabbing her partner through the head.

Takuya staggered forward and off of Aquilamon, and her partner used used that moment to fire a blast of lightning from his horns and send Takuya staggering backwards this time.

Chika sighed in relief as Aquilamon brought himself to his feet. He was safe!

--- And then a sharpness stabbed her in the back and she screamed. "I'm not letting you get away!" Relena shouted from behind her.

... How could she have been so stupid to forget about Relena? Either way, it wasn't like she was going to be able to do much now that lightning was surging through her body. She didn't know how long it took before the lightning stopped, but when it did she collapsed on the ground, taking as deep of breaths as she could to get air, trying and failing to maintain her evolution.

And failing miserably, her power fleeing her as she turned back into her human form. But why did the lightning stop? Chika pulled herself to her knees and turned around.

Yuka and Devidramon were now keeping Relena and Takuya occupied, but where was Aquilamon? The two of them wouldn't be able to do much for long.

"Are you alright Chika?" Aquilamon asked from behind her.

Chika weakly turned her head to look at her partner and winced at how beat up he looked. There were cuts and burn marks all over his body, and it seemed like he was struggling to maintain his evolution to the adult level. "...I'll be fine," she answered, not wanting to worry him as she climbed to her feet.

"...Good," Aquilamon said... and then collapsed on the ground, shrinking back down to Piyomon.

Chika sighed and moved closer to him, lifting up his head and resting it in her lap. But now they were going to need a miracle.

.o0o.

Yuka leaped off of her partner's back as he blasted Relena off of Chika. "What are you two doing!" she shouted. This was not the way things were supposed to go, at all.

Relena glared at her. "Stay out of this Yuka!" she snarled. "I'm avenging my father here and now!"

Yuka glared at her. "Why are you going to the Virus Busters!?"

Lightning coursed around Relena's body. "I can't stay with those liars you idolize so much!"

"So you join a genocidal fanatic group instead!?" Devidramon shouted, his eyes glowing red. It only took another moment for him to fire his attack at Relena, only fore Takuya to run into the beams instead, the energy bouncing off his armor.

"Leave her alone!" Takuya shouted, throwing a stream of flames at the two of them.

Yuka and Devidramon darted out of the way. It looked like it was time for her to show these two just who they were dealing with. Yuka clenched her fist, her digisoul igniting around it, before she ran forward and threw a punch at Relena's face which knocked the hybrid back.

Relena just glared and snarled at her.

Devidramon swiped at Takuya with his claws, but the dragon just grabbed his arms and pulled him in. Before the demonic dragon could realize what was happening, there was a knee digging into his stomach, and all the air seemed to flee from his body.

Yuka glanced over at Devidramon. "Keep at it partner!" She knew that if he focused that he'd be able to beat Takuya...

... and while thinking that Relena jumped forward and tackled her to the ground, snarling at her. "Give up and leave me alone Yuka!"

"You have to stop this!" Yuka shouted back. Relena just had to. She couldn't join the Virus Busters, she couldn't!

Relena just snapped at Yuka's neck in response.

Yuka flinched back, her body pressing against the ground. Relena was going to kill her. Relena was going too..."Think about what you're doing! You'll be no better than you say she is!"

Lightning gathered around Relena's horn and jaws. "Shut up!"

"YUKA!" Devidramon shouted, but Yuka heard him let out a pained gaps right after that.

Yuka's blood felt like fire and her skin felt frozen, Relena's jaws descending on her neck again she was going to die, Relena would kill Chika, Takuya would kill Devidramon. Everyone at DATS would want Relena dead...

... She couldn't let any of that happen.

No.

Yuka wouldn't let any of that happen. She was not going to die here. She'd beat the crap out of Relena and save her from her own idiocy. She let out a scream, her digisoul flaring to life around her entire body and pushing Relena off of her. She wasted no time, leaping to her feet, clutching her digivice, her entire body tingling. Before she even realized what she was doing, her hand slammed down on the top of the device, and a shot of "Digisoul Full Charge!" left her lips.

A large beam of energy blasted out of her digivice and slammed into Devidramon, completely covering him. The dragon let out a roar as he started glowing. "Devidramon Evolve!" While the digimon's body didn't seem to grow any larger, the leather covering him vanished, revealing dark blue skin. Metal appeared around his arm, chest, and face, forming a digimon that was a cyborg dinosaur. "Metal Greymon!"

Relena growled, turning her attention to the new perfect digimon. "I don't' believe this..."

Takuya turned to Metal Greymon. "A new evolution won't save you!" And with that, Takuya charged forward, blades pulled back, before swiping down at him.

Yuka watched as Metal Greymon effortlessly blocked the attack with his metal arm. The Cyborg-dinosaur let out a grin. "You sure about that?" And with that said, Metal Greymon easily knocked Takuya's arms away. "Mega Claw!" His claw shot out of his arm and sped towards Takuya.

The hybrid ducked out of the way... only for Metal Greymon's claw to speed around him, the cable that was still connecting it to the rest of the arm wrapping around Takuya's body.

"Let him go!" Relena shouted, lightning gathering around her body again.

"Stop it!" Yuka shouted, digisoul still surrounding her as she rand and wrapped her arms around Relena's chest.

"Let me go!" Relena shouted.

Yuka clenched her teeth together as Relena tried to throw her off. The younger girl tightened her hold around the hybrid. Her partner might be a perfect now, but Yuka still didn't know if he could defeat two hybrids by himself.

Metal Greymon's chest plate opened. "Giga Destroyer!" he shouted, two missiles shooting out of the now open missile bays on his chest.

Takuya let out a deep scream of pain as the two missiles slammed into his chest and exploded.

Metal Greymon's claw retracted back into it's place at the same moment the missile doors shut.

"TAKUYA!" Relena shouted, increasing the bolts of lightning across her body.

Yuka screamed in pain and found herself falling to the ground. She panted as she struggled to her feet, glaring at Relena.

Relena went over to Takuya, who was kneeling on the ground, clutching his chest. "Are you alright?" Relena asked as the strange blue digisoul surrounded him and n a few seconds he was back to his human form. Relena bent down to let Takuya get on her back.

The boy practically fell onto her.

Relena glared at them before turning around and running off.

Yuka was about to order Metal Greymon to go after them, but she fell to her knees, pins stabbing her throughout her body. Suddenly there were arms wrapping around her. She turned her head to see Chika behind her, Piyomon and a now devolved Tsukaimon not far behind. Yuka's vision was going blurry now, her eyelids heavy as she fought to stay awake, even where there was no need. It was going to be a while before they saw Relena again.

And there was no way it would be as anything other than an enemy.

.o0o.

**Author's notes:**

I apologize for the delay in this chapter, I just couldn't get myself to sit down long enough to type it up out of my notebook. Also, I've decided that I'm going to avoid using that header that I've been using for the last twelve chapters, since it's kinda redundant on posting on this site, and so far I've not posted the actual fic anywhere else.

Anyway, I pray all of you enjoyed this chapter and the fic so far, and hope you all enjoy what's to come.


	14. Aftermath

Relena kept running, pushing her legs as hard as she could. She didn't know if Metal Greymon was following her or not, but even if he wasn't this wasn't something that she could leave to chance. Not now. It was obvious Takuya was hurt, and while she didn't know how badly, she did know that Yuka's partner's attack was powerful...

"What did you do to him!?" a woman shouted, blasts of water speeding towards her as.

"Stop attacking!" Relena shouted as she jumped out of the way. "You might hurt him even more than he already is!"

The water-nymph hybrid landed on the ground in front of her. Relena could see the angry scowl on her face. "What did you do?"

"I decided to leave with him and DATS didn't agree," Relena spat, but let down to let Chiaki get a better look over at Takuya. "Yuka pulled an evolution to perfect out of her ass and Metal Greymon blasted him point blank."

Chiaki frowned at that. "He should be okay... but missiles to the chest probably hurt like hell." She ran her hand over Takuya's face for a moment, staring down at him sadly. "Let's get him on the ship."

Relena nodded and Chiaki started walking down to the water at the edge of the beach, where she saw the group's ship waiting. It didn't look like much compared to the types of boats she was used to seeing, but she reminded herself that just because she was rich didn't mean everyone else was.

Teppei was standing at the beach, and looked over at them as Chiaki devolved. "What the hell happened?"

"Giga Destroyer to the chest," Chiaki answered. "Now evolve and get him off Relena's back and into bed."

Teppei just nodded and quickly evolved into his gnome digimon form. Without another word, Takuya was lifted off of her back and Relena allowed herself to finally relax... immediately devolving and falling to her knees, panting heavily. If Teppei noticed this he didn't say anything, he just leaped into the air and landed on the deck of the ship, Takuya slung over his shoulder.

Chiaki looked over at her, frowning. "Come on, get on the ship."

Relena struggled to her feet, making sure to keep any scowls or frowns off of her face. After everything that happened, she really couldn't afford to piss off Takuya's friends. She quickly walked onto the ship's boarding plank and then the deck and sighed. She could tell that her choice meant that now her life was never going to be the same.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom-Magnum

Chapter 14: Aftermath

.o0o.

Ikuto grunted as he blocked Wolfmon's Licht Seiger with his boomerang. This fight wasn't going as well as he had hoped. As it was now, Ravemon was busy fighting the other three hybrids while Wolfmon stayed occupied with him. He was just glad that Ravemon came back down to him in time, otherwise things would've been much much worse. The young man concentrated, his violet digisoul flaring around his body. The young man focused his digisoul, actually managing to push his opponents energy blade back with his willpower alone.

Ikuto certainly wasn't going to waste this chance.

He swung his boomerang forward at Wolfmon's chest, knocking the hybrid back a bit.

Wolfmon snarled at him, and swung the blade at Ikuto's head.

The young man just ducked under the blade and this time threw the boomerang at the hybrid's chest.

Wolfmon howled as the force of the blow sent him flying backwards.

Ikuto grabbed his digivice and looked over at Ravemon, who seemed to be having some trouble with the three hybrids. It was time to finish this, but Ikuto knew that he wasn't going to have much time to help his partner before he was attacked again. The young man slid his hand over the front of his digivice, willing more of his power over to his partner. "Digisoul Bur-"

Ikuto felt himself punched suddenly and the next thing he knew he was on the ground, his power not reaching Ravemon as his digivice fell out of his hands. He saw Wolfmon panting as he brought himself back up to his feet, the hybrid having a smirk on his face. "Sorry, not today."

Ikuto scooped up his digivice off of the ground and jumped back, avoiding a sudden slash to his neck. His boomerang hadn't come back, and now he was at a serious disadvantage.

Wolfmon charged forward and slashed down at Ikuto's chest.

This time Ikuto only barely managed to get out of the way. The young man ran forward and threw a punch at Wolfmon's chest, but his arm was knocked away and suddenly an energy blade was going to go through his neck. He moved slightly to the side, feeling the heat of the blade scraping against his skin. Whoever this Wolfmon hybrid was, he was a good fighter. It seemed like he was fighting one of Kurata's elite soldiers, possibly someone at the same level as Kouki himself.

Wolfmon didn't follow up with his attack on Ikuto though, a humanoid flying digimon slammed into him and kept him from trying that. Ikuto looked in the direction that the female hybrid had come from, and saw that Ravemon was now winning against the two hybrids that he was still fighting.

Ikuto turned back to the other two hybrids, clenching his fist. He needed to find his weapon, but the way things were going he wasn't going to get the chance. The winged female hybrid was already making it to her feet and launched a blast of wind at him. Ikuto easily dodged it, but then felt the burning sensation of an energy blast slamming into his chest. He slammed into the ground, knowing that he had underestimated those four and was now probably going to pay the price for it...

"DOUBLE CRESENT MIRAGE!"

At that shout, arcs of energy slammed into the four hybrids. Ikuto jumped to his feet and looked over where the blasts hand come from, Mirage Gaogamon floating in the air with an enraged Touma standing on his shoulder. It looked like everything was going to be fine.

"Where is Relena!" Touma shouted.

Ikuto turned back to Wolfmon, and saw that he and the other hybrids were getting ready to attack again... but then there was a beeping noise, and Wolfmon grabbed something that looked like a digivice. There was a frown on his face. "We're done here!" he shouted.

"Not yet!" Touma shouted as Mirage Gaogamon crossed his arms over his chest, energy gathering around his claws.

Ikuto saw Wolfmon's eyes widen in shock just before Mirage Gaogamon launched his attack at them. "I won't ask again! Where is Relena!?"

The hybrids jumped back, the bug-like tank digimon gathering lightning in his two arm cannons, two balls connected together by a pulsing string of lightning. "We're not going to tell you guys anything! Ultimate Thunder!" And with that shout, the digimon fired, the blast of lightning headed straight at Mirage Gaogamon, who did not look worried or impressed.

Wolfmon readied his laser and fired at at Mirage Gaogamon also... or rather at the the tank-digimon's attack. Before Ikuto or any of the others could react, the two attacks collided and exploded brightly. Ikuto had to turn his eyes away because of it, and when he could finally look back all four of the hybrids were gone.

Mirage Gaogamon landed on the ground and Touma jumped of his partner's shoulder. A look of pure anger and rage was on his face, and Ikuto realized that he had never seen Touma look like that before. Touma quickly looked away from them, his fists clenched. Ikuto was sure that profanity was going to leave the older man's lips at any moment.

Ikuto turned around to Ravemon, who devolved at that very moment. "Are you alright?" he asked Falcomon.

Falcomon nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop the one who attacked Yuka."

Ikuto just smiled at him and shook his head. "Yuka's fine though..." He heard Touma yell followed by the sound of a foot hitting the wall. "I just hope she found Relena..."

"I just hope Relena's come to her senses..." Falcomon said.

.o0o.

Takuya's chest really hurt.

The brown haired boy opened his eyes, wincing as he thought about trying to sit up. He'd have to remember next time to not get hit by two Giga Destroyer's. Those things hurt...

"Takuya!"

Takuya turned his head to see Relena, Chiaki, and Teppei over by his bed. The two girls looked happy, smiles on their faces, while Teppei just looked like he was bored. Or at least that's what the other boy was trying to do, but Takuya could tell that the other boy was worried about him. "... Thanks for getting me here Relena."

Relena shook her head. "Don't worry about it." Takuya could see that there were tears forming in her eyes, and he felt horrible for making her feel that way. He smiled at her, hoping that it would maybe calm her down.

It didn't seem to work, as the tears started trailing down her cheeks. There was no way that he was going to have her cry because of him, so he tried to sit up again.

He needed to give up even before his back got off of the mattress at all.

Chiaki didn't looked too impressed with him. "You idiot! You just took two missiles to the chest!" He saw her clench her fists and gulped, not caring that she had probably heard it. He knew how she could get when things were like this... he was probably going to be strapped to the bed for weeks.

"Chiaki, its not like any of us haven't taken perfect level attacks more than once," Teppei said.

Now Chiaki was glaring at Teppei. "I can't believe you're encouraging him!" And with that, she grabbed Teppei by his shirt and dragged him out of the room.

Takuya just laughed softly. "I'm going to hate finding out what I owe Teppei for that."

Relena just stared at him blankly, but at least the tears seemed to be gone for now. "Chiaki can really rant if you do something stupid. At least I don't need to hear it now." He paused for a moment, wondering if talking about this was really smart. Either way... "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Of course I am," Relena said, moving closer to the edge of his bed. "I'm not the one who got blasted by missiles."

"That's not what I meant."

Relena frowned at him, turning her head away from his eyes. "I know..."

Neither of them said anything for a moment. With everything that had happened, what could they say, really?

After what seemed like hours, Relena turned back to him. "Where are we going to now?" Her voice seemed cold, not having the warmth and happiness that he usually heard in it.

Takuya winced. It seemed like the girl in front of him didn't really care what his answer was. But he answered anyway. "We're heading back to the main base to meet with Seraphimon and the other leaders."

Relena didn't so much as blink. "You going to have me blindfolded or something?"

Takuya laughed, almost not minding the pain that was like a million shards of glass digging into his flesh from the inside. "I don't think we'll need to do that. It isn't' like the Virus Busters main base being at the Forest Terminal is a big secret."

The girl smiled at that a bit, some of the warmth that he was used to seeing in her face returning. "Good. I hate blindfolds."

.o0o.

The first thing that Yuka did when she saw Ikuto heading towards them when the headed back to the hotel was to run up and bury her face into his chest. "You're okay!"

Ikuto wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a deep hug, but he didn't say anything.

"Relena got away," Doctor Norstein said from behind Ikuto, his voice making Yuka shudder.

"Yeah," Chika said. "It's my fault..."

Yuka broke away from her brother and looked back at Chika, who was looking away from Touma.

Piyomon groaned from next to her. "You have to stop blaming yourself for everything!"

Chika didn't say anything, she just turned away from Piyomon. Yuka saw Ikuto walk over to her and place a hand on Chika's shoulder. The woman's entire body tensed at that, and she had no idea why. Ikuto had comforted her with that lots of times, at least when he didn't just hug her outright...

... and Yuka realized that Chika had always reacted like that. Just how long had she been oblivious anyway? She hadn't known anything about Relena at all, and now it looked like she didn't even know anything about Chika either.

"Stop talking like that," Ikuto said. "Piyomon's right."

"Wry do you always try to make everything I've done not my fault!" Chika shouted, slapping Ikuto's hand away. "Even after I treated you like..." she trailed off and walked away from them. "Guys, take Yuka back to the base. I need some time alone." Light violet digisoul appeared around Chika's body and she quickly evolved to BioHolsmon before taking to the sky.

Yuka ran forward, Tsukaimon following behind her. "Chika-neesan!" she shouted.

Chika didn't answer and was soon out of sight.

Piyomon sighed and turned back to them. "She just needs some space. She'll be fine."

"But!..." Yuka began, but was silenced by Touma.

"Go get your things," Touma said. "We leave in an hour."

Yuka turned to him and pouted, but he and Gaomon were already leaving to go somewhere. She let out a sigh, then turned back to her brother. "What did Chika-neesan mean?"

Ikuto blushed, but he still looked worried. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

Yuka glared at him. That didn't help her figure out what was going on at all.

Falcomon looked over at her. "Oh, your combat instructors aren't happy you missed your classes and have you scheduled for a lot of solo sessions to make up for it."

Both Yuka and Tsukaimon shuddered. Takaishi-sensei and Makino-sensei did not go easy on anyone, let alone people who missed their classes. "Is it too late to fight the Virus Busters again?" Tsukaimon asked.

Ikuto chuckled. "Yes. If I have anything to say about it, you two won't be involved in that stuff again."

Yuka shook her head and turned back to Tsukaimon. "Let's go get everything." And with that she dragged her partner to the hotel. It didn't take them long to make it back to the room, but Tsukaimon was blinking at her. "We didn't bring anything here though."

Yuka smirked for a bit. "So? We can still just talk for a bit and decide what to do."

Tsukaimon blinked again. "We're going to leave at the first opportunity and drag Relena's butt back to DATS, aren't we?"

Yuka shook her head. "I don't know. Her joining them just seems off. I mean, I know love is supposed to mess with people's heads, but I wouldn't act like that."

Tsukaimon frowned. "But you can still trust most of the people in DATS," he said. "We just saw Chika-neechan and everyone be stupid. Almost every word anyone said to Relena in the last five years was based on a lie."

"Still, she went with Takuya and the others pretty fast. She's only known them a week!"

Tsukaimon didn't say anything, he just flew over to one of the beds and curled up on it. It took Yuka a moment to realize that it was Relena's. She shook her head and turned away.

... If it came down to it? Would she do the same thing to go after Relena?

.o0o.

Piyomon walked around the hotel's lobby, looking for where Touma was. There was something really important that they needed to discuss, and Ikuto would protest if he heard it.

It didn't take him that long before he found Touma outside, Gaomon standing by his side. He didn't know if they were talking about anything or not, but either way... "We need to talk," he said.

Gaomon looked at him, frowning. "Shouldn't you go be with Chika right now?"

"She can take care of herself and this is important," Piyomon answered Gaomon, the later part somewhat coldly.

Gaomon just turned away from him, and Touma looked down at him. "What is this about Piyomon? Are even you finally convinced that Chika should leave DATS."

Piyomon glared up at Touma. "No, this is about Yuka."

"So, what problem could there be besides sneaking out of the base and getting captured by bandits?" Touma asked.

"I think it's time that we bent the admission rules for promotion to DATS agent."

Touma blinked and just looked at him fro a few seconds. Piyomon didn't know if Touma was thinking about it seriously or just wondering how to tell him he was an idiot. After a few moments, Touma shook his head. "Why would you want to bend those rules? The long training process was only set up after Kurata kidnapped Chika and made her a bio-hybrid to make sure that no one who couldn't handle it would be put in that situation again!"

"You know as well as I do that Kurata would've done what he did to Chika regardless if she was a DATS Agent or not," Piyomon said. "I know you felt guilty for what happened due to your father's actions..."

Gaomon tensed up and shot Piyomon a glare. He acted like he didn't notice the other digimon's attitude. "... but with how the things with the Virus Busters and Kurata are now, we're going to need her on the field. She's more like Ikuto then we thought she would be. She just got Tsukaimon to evolve to Metal Greymon."

Touma's eyes widened a little at that. "But she doesn't have anywhere near the actual experience in battle to pull that off!"

"Guess again," Piyomon said. "But that's not the only reason. We're going to send a team to retrieve Relena eventually, right?"

Touma clenched his fists. "Of course we are."

"Who do we have in DATS that Relena actually would listen to now?" Piyomon asked. "During the fight against Dominimon's forces, Yuka managed to get her to fight against the Virus Busters instead of attacking Chika. If we want to get Relena to come back with us, Yuka's our only chance."

Piyomon stared into Touma's eyes, and he could tell that he would at least have one supporter in this.

.o0o.

**Author's Notes:**

**First off, I want to apologize for the long wait for this chapter. While I have a significant portion of this fic written already, for the most part it isn't typed up and I took a little break from uploading to make sure I actually got a least _a few_ more chapters typed up. As it is, it's only the second drafts of 15 and 16, but hopefully it will be enough to keep it from going another three weeks again.**


	15. Reunion

Chika flew from File Island as fast as she could. After everything that had just happened, she didn't need to stay there, couldn't stay there. She couldn't deal with both Ikuto and Touma right now. Hopefully Piyomon would be able to convince them that she'd be fine, at least until she went back to the base later.

But right now she needed to get away. Once again she had messed up, just like almost everything important that she had dealt with. Chika would fire her attacks at herself for her stupidity if she could, but she knew that trying to hurt herself wasn't going to help, even if she probably deserved to be dead after everything...

First she had let herself get captured by Kurata and fused with Hawkmon, leaving Miyako without a partner. After that, she couldn't even at least save Miyako for sharing in the same fate that she had.

Chika felt drops of rain start splashing against her feathers, interrupting her thoughts for a moment. But that moment didn't last long at all.

Then while escaping she had made it so Relena would never be able to see her father again. And Relena saw it. That was just the start. After that, she and Ikuto... no, she had used Ikuto for cheap sex to try to make herself feel better, convincing herself that it was love and he would keep her safe. Then she had nearly done the same with Takeru-kun. In the same week.

Chika let out a scream and launched two beams of energy out of her eyes into the ocean in rage. She probably killed some fish with that attack, but she wasn't really caring at the moment. The rain was a downpour now, and Chika just started flying over land. She was almost where she was headed for, and her feathers were now soaked completely. Not that she cared about it at all, slowly descending when she noticed a cross-shaped marker in the ground.

A few moments later, she landed in front of it and devolved, the rain almost immediately soaking her clothes, hair, and cheeks, hiding the tears that were now flowing out of her eyes... if anyone were there to seem them. The young woman fell to her knees, uncaring of the mud that would now be staining her pants. She felt a familiar presence in this place right now. "What should I do? I'm a horrible person. How do I fix it Masaru-niichan?"

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom_Magnum

Chapter 15: Reunion

.o0o.

"Well, first you can stop mistaking Dad's grave for mine," a voice said from behind Chika. "Since, ya'know, I'm not dead."

Chika chuckled a bit at that, turning around to look at Masaru. "You know I knew you were behind me." But now that the brief amusement was gone, beaten back by her guilt as she stared at him, his arms crossed over his chest and his digisoul burning brightly around him, seemingly deflecting the rain.

Chika shook her head and got to her feet. "What should I do? I've been doing nothing but mistakes for years..."

Masaru sighed. "You know that isn't true Chika."

"Like hell it is! I took away any chance of Relena ever seeing her father again! That's why she left us for the Virus Busters!" She sobbed.

"There's nothing we can do about that now," Masaru said, walking closer to her and wrapping her arms around her.

Chika sobbed, resting her head on his chest and relaxing into his embrace as his digisoul enveloped her in a warm heat. Maybe being alone to deal with this wasn't a good idea after all... She didn't know how long she had stood there crying, her brother's arms around her and soothingly rubbing the back of her head, but once she finally pulled away, the rain had stopped. "...Thanks... niichan," she said, still a little bit sad but feeling a little better than she had before, and glad that even as an adult Masaru-niichan was still there for her.

Masaru just smiled at her brightly as his digisoul receded, the orange light fading away until it was completely gone. "Anytime Chika."

"Sorry to interrupt such a touching scene, but you have something of ours Daimon-san!" a completely unfamiliar voice shouted from behind her.

Chika felt her body scream at her and she turned around to see a bird-man digimon standing where her back had been. The top of his body was completely covered in white fur and the bottom red feathers that reminded her of Aquilamon, along with his bird legs. There was a metal visor over his eyes. She knew that she hadn't seen this thing before, but something about him seemed familiar anyway...

"Who the hell are you!?' Masaru shouted, his hands balled into fists as his digisoul re-ignited around his body.

The digimon just laughed. "My name is Silphymon, and my employer wants that precious data that you now carry back."

Chika's eyes narrowed and a flame suddenly ignited in her body. "You and Kurata have some nerve!" she yelled, her voice practically a screech. Her light violent digisoul exploded into existence around her, swirling in a cyclone around her body. "You think I'm going to give Hawkmon's data back you you creeps?!" Chika pulled out her digivice and slammed her palm down on it. "Hyper Bio Evolution!" she screamed, her body shifting back into Bio Holsmon. She was going to tear this jerk apart. Nothing was going to put Hawkmon through that again.

"Oh, is 'mama' a little mad now?" Silphymon laughed.

Chika screeched and charged forward, talons and beak poised to strike.

Silphymon gathered red energy in his hands and thrust it forward, the energy leaping from his hands, smashing into Chika... but the bio-hybrid just charged through it. The digimon cursed and took to the air to avoid a swipe from the girl-turned-digimon's talons.

Chika growled and stretched her wings, taking to the sky. He wasn't getting away from her that easy, there was no way she was going to let it.

"Damn it Chika!" Masaru shouted from below. "I can't help you when you do that!"

Chika just ignored him, gathering red energy of her own in her eyes. "Red Sun!" The two beams leaped from her eyes and slammed into Silphymon's chest, knocking him back.

Silphymon gathered his energy and recovered from the blow, managing to keep hovering in the sky.

Chika flew at him, readying her beak to cut into bird-man flesh, but the digimon wasn't going to make it that easy. He dodged her beak and clawed at her back. She screamed as the claws scraped against her back, but she still managed to turn around and blasted him with two more eye beams.

Silphymon tried to block the attack, but was only sent flying back from the force of the strike.

Chika flew forward and began spinning around in the air, a vortex of wind forming around her body. After a few moments, she sent to tornado speeding into Silphymon's chest and sending him crashing into the ground. She heard Silphymon let out a scream of pain and Chika landed near the digimon. She slowly walked towards him, her eyes narrowed and glowing red. Hearing another groan from him, Chika was about to finish it when she suddenly found herself dodging red beams of energy. She looked up into the sky and saw several Gizmon hovering around them.

Silphymon slowly made it to his feet, a manic grin on his face. "There's no escape for you Daimon! I will get my hands on that data for my master, and then the other two will be next!"

Chika's eyes widened and her heart slammed against her chest.. That was why those kids with the Virus Busters wanted Relena! "You son of a bitch!"Chika shouted, firing off a rapid torrent of energy beams at Silphymon. But a Gizmon suddenly moved in front of the attacks, taking them without much visible damage.

Silphymon just laughed again. "You can't do anything! Prepare to Die!" And with that shout, the Gizmon fired.

Chika knew that the beam was coming at her too fast for her to dodge, it was too close, and the other Gizmon were firing at her now. There was only one way to survive those blasts...

She devolved.

The Gizmon's beams slammed into her body, feeling like little more than bee stings. They still hurt, but it wasn't like her body was going to break apart anymore.

Of course, now she was starting to free fall to her death...

Silphymon just laughed and moved in front of the Gizmon, red energy gathered in his hands again. "Now I have you right where I want you Daimon!"

"Like hell you do!" Something shouted, right before Shine Greymon flew down front higher in the sky and hovered in front of Chika, his back facing the bird-man as he grabbed Chika in his arms.

Silphymon's attack bounced off of the dragon cyborg's armor. "Sorry I'm late Aniki!"

Chika sighed in relief. The Gizmon's attacks might not have been able to hurt her that much while she was human, but Silphymon was a different story.

"Where the hell were you!?" Masaru shouted.

"I was dealing with an army of Gizmon!"

"Then what's this!?"

"... Another army of Gizmon!" Shine Greymon answered... just as the Gizmon fired their beams at him. The dragon quickly flew out of the way... only for Silphymon to now be charging at him, red ball of energy gathered in his hands again ready to be thrown into Chika's body.

Chika jumped out of Shine Greymon's arms and re-evolved to Bio Holsmon. "Leave him to me! Deal with the Gizmon!" She shouted right as Silphymon fired off his attack at her, dodging it nimbly. Her eyes started glowing and she fired off her energy beams again.

Silphymon just dodged the attack and landed on the ground near her. Chika had just a moment to move to the side as Silphymon threw a punch and her, and then she struck with her beak.

She tasted blood in her mouth, and Silphymon screamed as she kept striking with her beak. She was trying to ignore the coppery taste of the blood on her tongue, just like Franz's was. Thankfully, Shine Greymon was actually dealing with the Gizmon, if the cries of "Glorious Burst!" and the explosions were any indication.

She pulled back and glared at Silphymon. There was just something about him, something that made her hate herself for each attack she tried against him. But she couldn't let Hawkmon's data fall into that madman's hands. Not again.

Chika's eyes burned in her vision with a crimson fire. "Red Sun!" she shouted, energy blasting out from her eyes and slamming into Silphymon's chest, the digimon screaming as he was sent flying back. She just glared at him as he brought himself to his feet, clutching his bleeding arm and covered with bruises and cuts. She charged forward. It was time to tear this guy apart for good.

Silphymon flew into the air, and a group of Gizmon moved in front of him.

The artificial digimon fired at her, and Chika weaved through the beams over to Masaru and Shine Greymon, both of which were attacking Gizmon that were near them: Masaru with his fists, and Shine Greymon with the Geo-Greysword. "We need to get out of here!" she shouted.

Shine Greymon cleaved his Gizmon in half with his blade and turned around and stabbed another one through its eye. "That's easier said then done!" the digimon shouted, pulling his sword of of the now dissolving Gizmon, before attacking another one.

"Still!" Chika shouted, dodging another beam from a Gizmon and firing her eye beams at it, knocking it back and causing it to explode.

"Don't worry," Masaru said, leaping up and kicking a Gizmon into another one, both of which were then stabbed by Shine Greymon. "We can take these things!"

"Masaru-niichan!" Chika shouted. That was typical of her brother, but when the Gizmon started flying away it didn't take Chika long to realize that Silphymon was gone.

... But they needed to get back to the base. Now.


	16. Returned

Yuka clutched Tsukaimon to her stomach, looking sadly out the window of the helicopter as they left File Island. Relena was gone... and she had no idea what was really going to happen to her now. The next moment, there was a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at her brother, frowning.

"You okay?" Ikuto asked, frowning at her.

Yuka shook her head. How could she be okay? Relena joined the Virus Busters! And Chika-neechan went off who knew where. After that, she just turned back to the window.

"Yuka?" Ikuto asked, obviously not taking her nod as an acceptable answer.

"I'll be fine," Yuka answered, not bothering to turn around to look at him. She started running her hands over the fur on Tsukaimon's head instead. The small digimon curled up towards her hand, obviously liking what she was doing.

"Chika will be back soon and we'll get Relena back from the Virus Busters," Piyomon said suddenly.

Yuka just flinched at that. They wouldn't. Relena had joined the Virus Busters. Even if they dragged her back, she wouldn't be on their side any more.

"Piyomon..." Touma said, sounding rather annoyed.

Yuka turned her head to look across at Touma, Piyomon, and Gaomon. "Why didn't you guys tell her what happened anyway?"

Touma glared at her. "You don't need to know that."

"How am I supposed to trust you guys when I have proof and admission that you guys covered up a murder!?" Yuka shouted at him. "You realize that because of that Relena ran off with someone she just met, don't you!?"

Touma didn't look happy at that at all, but he didn't say anything else at that.

Ikuto gave her shoulder a squeeze, but Yuka ignored it and kept glaring at Touma.

Touma sighed. "... I didn't want Relena to know what our father did to Chika. What happened to her is one reason why training for DATS Agents was expanded so much."

Yuka sighed and rest her head on the back of the seat. "What are you guys going to do about Relena now?" she asked.

"We'll send a team after her," Touma said. "After that..."

"Touma..." Piyomon interrupted.

"You know that the issue we talked about can't be my decision!" Touma shouted, turning around to glare at Piyomon.

Yuka blinked. That was just odd. "What'd you two talk about?"

"Don't worry about it right now," Touma answered.

Yuka sighed and turned her attention back to the window.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 16: Returned

.o0o.

Relena sighed and leaned forward against the rail of the ship. So much had happened since Ogremon had kidnapped her... she shook her head. She couldn't believe that her brother was able to lie to her about her father's death for so long. The blonde clenched her fists around the railing, a scowl on her face. How dare he do that!?

"You shouldn't be so angry all of the time, people will think you're unsociable." A male voice said from behind her.

"After what I've just been through, I don't really care," Relena spat, letting go of the railing and turning around to see a guy that she didn't recognize right away... then it hit her. "I'm surprised you really care though."

Katsuharu smiled at her. "Well, there's a pretty new girl with us. Even if you seem to have something going on with Takuya, I should at least flirt with you."

Relena sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, not in the mood right now." She had just fought her father's murderer, and she almost finished it... until Yuka got in the way. She turned back to the ocean, deeply staring at the waves. She didn't know how long it would take for them to get where they were headed, but at this point, she needed to get there soon. She wasn't strong enough to beat Slash Angemon. Her eyes narrowed and she clutched the railing again, only dimly noticing the helicopter flying away from File Island in the sky.

Katsuharu moved closer to her. "Just watch how hard you grab that. The railing on this ship is notorious for breaking when hybrids try to grab it."

Relena glared at him.. until the railing snapped apart in her hands.

Katsuharu laughed. "See?"

Relena just shook her head. They needed stronger rails. That had to be it. "Can we just leave already?" she asked, letting out a huff and tossing the piece of railing at the boy.

Katsuharu grabbed it effortlessly, but didn't say anything else.

.o0o.

Yuka sighed. This ride was taking about as long as she could've expected. She leaned over on her brother's chest, closing her eyes. "Wake me when we get there," she mumbled. She didn't really want to, but she was so bored that she couldn't keep herself awake.

A second later, Ikuto let out a laugh. "We're here."

Yuka's eyes snapped open and she looked out the window, smiling. The sight that she saw was magnificent. The large turtle-castle digimon, ElDoradimon was standing in the middle of the ocean. Most of the buildings that were visible were made of the natural brick of his evolution, but there were some buildings that looked like they were made of metal instead.

And Yuka pouted, realizing that she was in a lot of trouble now that she was home. Her parents and teachers were so going to kill her. Ikuto laughed from next to her and Yuka turned to pout at him instead of the window. "I'm sure they're not going to do anything too bad to the two of you."

Both she and Tsukaimon gulped at the same time.

Touma and Gaomon didn't say anything, and Yuka turned back to the window as the helicopter started to descend... and saw her mother on the helipad.

The blonde drained from her face. Tsukaimon whimpered in her arms, and she just tightened her hold on her, like he was a stuffed toy. She didn't know if she wanted to reassure him that everything would be fine, or wanted to be reassured that everything was fine.

She was terrified though, so it was probably the later. Or both.

The doors began opening.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!??"

Yuka flinched as her mother began her tirade before the doors had even finished opening. She turned to Piyomon looking for help, but all the pink bird did was snicker a bit. She turned back to her mother, her eyes wide. "Mama, I..."

Before she could finish saying anything else , her mother hand pulled in into a fierce hug, and pulled her off of the helicopter. "You idiot..."

"Mama..." Yuka trailed off, closing her eyes and hugging her mother back.

Tsukaimon smiled, before slipping out of the hug and flying over to Piyomon as the other four occupants of the helicopter came out of it.

"It's nice to see you Misuzu-san," Touma said, when Yuka's mother let go of her.

Yuka smiled a little as she looked over at Doctor Norstein.

"You need to ask me something, don't you?" her mom asked, and Yuka felt her mother place a hand on he shoulder. She didn't know why, but something seemed really wrong about how her mother was feeling.

Doctor Norstein just sighed and nodded.

"What is it?" Yuka felt the grip on her shoulder tighten a bit and frowned. Something was wrong here.

Ikuto looked between their mother and then at her for a moment. He then turned back towards her mother. "We should probably talk about this inside."

Yuka blinked. They obviously didn't want her to know something. But what was it.

Her mother sighed. "Alright, we'll talk in a bit."

Doctor Norstein nodded and started walking inside, Piyomon and Gaomon following him. Touma stopped after a moment. "Come on Ikuto. We need to report to Commander Satsuma."

Ikuto nodded. "Alright," he answered before walking after the other three, who hand started back inside.

Falcomon turned to them for a moment. "We'll see you three later." And with that, he took off after Ikuto.

Yuka looked over at Tsukaimon, a frown on her face.

Tsukaimon just shook his head. It looked like he had no idea what Ikuto and Doctor Norstein had on mind right now.

That was weird, and Yuka didn't know what was going on.

She hated that.

.o0o.

Yuka hadn't been back home for five seconds before she ran into someone that scared her a little more than even her mother.

"Look who decided to finally show up," an adult woman's voice said from behind her and her mother as they were walking back to their apartment.

Yuka could feel her face go white, and she slowly turned around to see a red haired woman behind her. "...Good evening Makino-sensei."

The woman just let out a huff. "You won't have that attitude when Takaishi and I get through all the make up sessions you need to do."

Now Yuka felt the blood drain from her body completely, and the thudding sound near her made her pretty sure that Tsukaimon had a similar reaction that she did.

Another voice laughed from near them and a Renamon suddenly appeared in view. "You don't need to torture them yet Ruki."

Makino-sensei just smirked. "And miss all this fun?"

"Even so, it's hardly professional," Yuka's mother said.

Makino-sensei just kept smirking. "Alright, you guys do get that." The woman turned to Yuka. "Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow."

Yuka gulped, and thought that it might be time to start writing her will.

.o0o.

Piyomon stood in Satsuma's office, the Supreme commander of DATS seated behind his desk. Touma, Ikuto, and their partners were standing near the walls, looking over at the Commander to see what he would say.

Misuzu and Sayuri were standing near him, and when Piyomon turned to look at them he saw shock in both their eyes, with rage also being in Yuka's mother's. He had said what he needed to say. "Are you crazy!?" Misuzu shouted. "You want Yuka to become a full member of DATS! Chika joined at Yuka's age, and look how messed up she is!"

Sayuri glared at Misuzu, but Piyomon noticed that his partner's mother didn't disagree with what the other woman was saying. That wasn't good, Piyomon knew that Sayuri never wanted Chika to be involved in fights in the first place. It was going to be hard to convince them, but with the Virus Busters increasing the time table and Dominimon dead, they had no choice. Yuka was amazing, and on the battlefield she'd be an important asset. Piyomon wouldn't be surprised if she and Yuka reached Ultimate before the end of their first year...

Too bad that talking tactics and the like wasn't going to convince the two parents trying to fry him with their eyes of what he had to say. "Yuka's more than ready. She more than proved that when she and Metal Greymon were able to stop Relena and that Virus Buster hybrid when Chika and I underestimated them and couldn't."

If anything this just annoyed Misuzu more. "You just want Tsukaimon's Ultimate! You don't give a damn about Yuka!"

"Misuzu-san!" Sayuri exclaimed.

Piyomon didn't think it had any effect on the blue haired woman. He needed to think of something fast. He did care about Yuka, but if he had his way none of this would've ever happened in the first place. "That isn't true, but if we're going to stop the Virus Busters we're going to need Yuka! She and Tsukaimon will be targets no matter what anyway!"

"I don't like it!" Ikuto shouted. "This isn't like ten years ago! We don't need an innocent kid to get in this fight!"

Piyomon turned to him, noticing that Falcomon was looking up at his partner worriedly. "You've seen her fight," Piyomon said. "You know she's just as capable as you were back then. You're one of the ones that trained her."

Ikuto looked enraged. "That was so she could protect herself!" he shouted. "Not to turn her into a soldier!"

"Then why did you let her enroll in the first place!" Piyomon shouted back, both and Ikuto and Misuzu.

Neither of them said anything. "It's not just Yuka. Wee need anyone that we can get now that the Virus Busters have access to Gizmon."

"Be that as it may," Satsuma began, and everyone turned to look over at him. He had their full attention. "We can't just decide to make a trainee into a full agent. She'll have to take the same exam as everyone else."

Piyomon blinked at that. It was easier to get him to agree than he though it would be. Now he just needed to figure out how to break the news to Chika... whenever she got back anyway.

"However, this is still going to take time," Satsuma continued. "We aren't going to be able to host the test for another two months."

"What!?" Piyomon shouted. He wouldn't be surprised if that would be too late to be any help.

Satsuma just him a look that Piyomon shrunk back a bit at. "We can't just give Yuka special consideration. The chance needs to be given to everyone in her age group and older. If she can pass the tests then she'll be made a full agent. Only if she passes."

Piyomon nodded. That was probably all that he could ask. And it might make things easier for Misuzu and Sayuri if she passed the test a fifteen year old was expected to take.

The intercom on Satsuma's desk beeped suddenly. "What is it?" Satsuma asked after activating it.

"Commander!" Miki's voice came out from the intercom. "Masaru and Shine Greymon are approaching the base quickly. Chika's with them and they already told us that they need to speak with you immediately!"

"Understood," Satsuma said, before cutting off the connection.

Piyomon shivered, fearing that the two months the commander just demanded weren't going to come in time.


	17. Tides of Fate

_Relena didn't know why, but there was a coppery taste in her mouth that made her want to vomit._

_She had no idea what happened. She was inside before and there was light and now it was dark. She couldn't see anything... besides a splash of red on her hands. She stared down at her hands and her stomach clenched. Her hands were completely red. Covered in blood. But why... and what was that taste in her..._

_Relena's eyes went wide and she let out a gasp when everything started making sense. She frantically wiped her hand on her shirt, getting the blood off of her hand before putting it to her lips... and more red liquid smeared on it. And it wasn't from her._

_She screamed..._

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom-Magnum

Chapter 17: Tides of Fate

.o0o.

... and shot out of the bed, her hands clutching the blanket to her chest. What the hell was going on and what was that dream about?

Relena frantically looked around the cabin, realizing that she was still on the ship. She had left File Island with Takuya a few days ago. She was going to meet with the remaining leaders of the Virus Busters.

That dream was just a dream. Maybe she was just nervous. Either way there was nothing for her to worry about. Just things for her to be pissed off about instead. She let go of the blanket and clenched her fist. The next time she saw Chika, she wasn't going to be stupid like this time. She was going to kill her, and if Yuka tried to stop her, then Relena was going to take care of it. She wasn't going to hesitate. Not again.

She didn't care about Yuka.

She couldn't afford to.

Now all there was left to do was to wait until they got to the Virus Busters main base. Relena closed her eyes, but opened them again as there was a flash of red.

She let out a groan and slipped out of the bed. It looked like she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

.o0o.

Later that day, Relena walked into Takuya's room. "You feeling alright?" she asked, somewhat nervous.

Takuya sat up in his bed. "Yeah, I"m feeling a lot better," he said. "I'm used to healing kinda fast."

Relena forced a smiled and slowly moved over to his bed. "That's good..." she said, trailing off a bit. She didn't even know why she had come here in the first place. She knew that Takuya was fine... and that dream she had just wouldn't get out of her mind.

"Something wrong?" Takuya asked. It looked like he could tell that she was thinking about something, and Relena didn't know if she should be flattered or scared.

She shook her head and turned away from him. She wasn't going to bother him about her nightmares. Not now when he was still recovering. Probably not ever, either.

"You having second thoughts?" he asked.

Relena let out a gasp and her lips twirled into a snarl. Her nails were digging into her palms, and she completely ignored the stinging sensation. "No."

Takuya laughed a bit. "You're sure upset for someone who's completely sure about what they're doing."

Relena glared at him. "I don't think you want to get me angry right now Takuya," she said. Really, he was the one who approached her about this, why was he asking her a question like that?

Takuya just shrugged at that. "You can't be worse than Izumi when she's angry. Besides, what do you expect me to think? You left everything you ever knew. Wonder about it is only natural."

Relena turned away. She had made her choice and that was the end of it. And then she felt his hand on her shoulder and she resisted the sudden urge to flinch. She liked him, that shouldn't scare her like that...

"You know I"m here for you if you want to talk, right?" he asked.

Relena frowned and let out a sigh. "I know..." But it was because of her that Metal Greymon had... and Takuya was squeezing her shoulder gently now.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine," she answered, turning around to look at him again. He was frowning at her.

"So you're not fine now?" he asked.

Relena glared at him. "It was just a bad dream. Don't worry about it."

Takuya blinked. "You sure?"

Relena nodded, and blinked when Takuya moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Usually she would just lay down into his chest or something, maybe press her lips to his...

... but not now. Things had changed. They had changed way too much. She took her hands and moved his away from her.

"Are you sure that nothing's wrong? He asked.

She didn't say anything. She just shook her head. It wasn't right. She should be able to trust Takuya and the others. She knew she could. Just like she knew that she could trust Touma and the others in DATS.... "I should go." And with that, she got off of Takuya's bed and headed to the door.

But she was stopped from leaving by one of Takuya's friends... if she was right, this black haired guy was Kouji. "We're almost there," Kouji said, ignoring her and looking over at Takuya.

Relena turned to Takuya and noticed that he looked shocked. "That doesn't make any sense," he said. "We shouldn't be at the Forest Terminal for at least another four days."

"We're not going to the Forest Terminal," Kouji answered. "Ophanimon sent us another rendezvous point. Seems like she doesn't want to meet the new recruit in the home base."

Takuya groaned and flopped back on his bed. "How long do we have?" he asked.

"About an hour," Kouji answered, turning to Relena. "She told me to make sure you were ready."

Relena blinked at that, but Kouji was gone before she could ask what he meant. She turned back to Takuya and sighed. "What did he mean by that?"

Takuya just shrugged. "I have just as much of an idea as you," he answered, turning to grab his digivice and look at it. "They did change where we were supposed to meet..."

"You thought Kouji was lying to you?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure I was told about it," he answered. "None of them would lie to me about something like that, but I guess I'm just a little paranoid sometimes." He sighed and started getting out of the bed. "Are you ready to meet our leaders?" he asked.

Relena didn't answer. Honestly?

She didn't know.

.o0o.

It was time.

Relena stood on the deck, the ship heading towards an island that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. She shivered, and wrapped her arms over her chest, looking out at the island. "This seems weird," Relena said to no one in particular.

"Having second thoughts?" Izumi asked from behind her. Unlike the concern that Takuya had shown earlier, this was different, and it made Relena want to beat Izumi's head in. But she was her teammate and she couldn't do that.

She glared at Izumi. "No, but why would your leaders change a meeting point to that island?"

"Maybe because you betrayed your last allies?" Izumi taunted. "Trust me, if we weren't ordered to we wouldn't have gotten you out of there."

Relena just turned away from the girl. She didn't need to hear that, not right now. She heard Takuya go over to talk to Izumi, but she knew that he was biased to her due to their short fling they have... or had. She didn't even really know anymore.

Stupid hormones. Really. They seemed to make him trust her when he probably shouldn't. And if she was honest to herself, she trusted him more than the rest of his friends, even if she wasn't trusting anyone right now.

"There's another ship headed our way!" Junpei shouted.

"What's going on?" Relena asked, turning to the others. That didn't sound like a happy thing from Junpei's reaction.

Takuya walked towards her a bit, grabbing his digivice. "Get ready everyone," he said, not happy in the least.

Relena saw the other eight of them do the same and decided to follow their lead, grabbing hers. She didn't know what was going on, but she figured that they were just being cautious... but then that reaction...

Almost as soon as the ship came into view, Relena froze as a very familiar shape flew off of it and onto the deck of their ship. "Mephismon!" she shouted, her digisoul flaring to life around her body. This was definitely not according to any plan...

... but a beam suddenly blasted her in the hand and she dropped her digivice. The device skidded on the deck, far away from her. Relena glared up at Mephismon and the small squad of Gizmon flying behind him.

"Sorry Miss Norstein, but I'd prefer to not fight you now that you've been delivered to us."

"What are you talking about?!" Kouji shouted.

Mephismon laughed. "Sorry, did Ophanimon not tell you that you were getting Miss Norstein for my boss?"

"You!?" Takuya shouted, and Relena turned when she hear him scream. He was nursing his hand, his digivice flying and landing on the deck.

Mephismon just snorted at the boy. "If you just cooperate, you won't be harmed. My bosses and your Lucemon-sama kinda have an agreement right now, but it's fragile and you wouldn't want to mess it up, would you?"

"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Katsuharu shouted. "Our leaders wouldn't make any deals with a virus like you!!"

Mephismon laughed. "You guys actually believe that dogmatic crap that your canon fodder are fed. How rich!"

"We'll show-!" Katsuharu shouted, only for him to become the third person to be blasted by a Gizmon before he could finish his threat, let alone evolve.

Relena just scanned the deck, looking for her digivice. If she could evolve, she might be able to distract the enemies long enough for the others to evolve and turn the tide of this situation... unless Mephismon was telling the truth. Coincidently, the digivice just happened to be by his feet. She needed to come up with a way to get it back and fast.

Mephismon just laughed suddenly. "Planning on getting this?" he asked, scooping the digivice off of the ground. "I think I'll keep it, at least for now."

Relena glared at him, her fists clenched and a familiar stinging feeling in her palms. There had to be something that she could do. "What does Kurata want me for?" she asked.

"Relena!" Takuya shouted. "What are you thinking..."

"You should stay out of this boy," Mephismon said. "You really don't know what this situation is, do you?"

"You haven't answered my question," Relena said impatiently.

"Kurata doesn't want you for anything. It's his boss that wants you out of DATS hands."

Relena just blinked at him, since that made no sense at all. Kurata was the leading force against DATS...

"You don't believe me, obviously," Mephismon said, tossing Relena's digivice up into the air for a moment and catching it... before tossing it over at her. She almost wasn't able to catch it in time, the small device almost falling out of her hands until she pressed both of them together.

"What's going on!?" Junpei shouted.

Relena ignored him and stared at Mephismon. "Who is this boss you're talking about?" Relena asked. Why would he or she want to keep her safe, unless...

... No. That couldn't be right. Her father was dead.

"You can't be serious!" Chiaki shouted.

"You'll find out soon enough Miss Norstein," Mephismon answered.

Relena nodded at that. "Fine, take me to this boss of yours and let them go."

Mephismon grinned at that. "Making it seem like you're being noble and sacrificing yourself? I like it."

Relena shook her head. "Not really. Then again, considering you used to run bandits, I do need to be careful. Don't want you do something like stab your delivery boys and girls in the back."

"Relena!?" Takuya shouted. "We didn't know anything about this!"

Relena just snorted at that. "Really? I'm not an idiot Takuya. You were specifically ordered to get me away from DATS. I was wondering what the leaders of the Virus Busters wanted with me, and now I know." She turned back to Mephismon. "Let's go then."

"Glad you see things my way," Mephismon said, walking over and scooping Relena up in his massive arms.

Relena made sure to not scream at this, but after a few moments in his arms she relaxed. His arms, they were so... gentle. It was weird and welcoming at the same time.

Mephismon took flight, and Relena ignored the shouts coming from Takuya on the ship's deck. She was trading one group of people that she couldn't trust for another. Not really that much of a big deal. Maybe she could convince Kurata's boss to let her kill Chika, instead of whatever she was supposed to be used for.

Even then, did she really care about what it was as long as she got to kill Chika first?

Either way, it didn't take long for Mephismon to fly to some fortress on that Island that they were headed to before. Relena took a deep breath. Her fate was sealed now. For better or worse.

.o0o.

Mephismon landed in front of the base, where a young woman with blonde hair and a Wormmon in her arms was waiting. She was dressed in a gothic black dress. Relena couldn't recognize who she was, but something about her seemed familiar.

Mephismon snorted. "Nanami. What a pleasant surprised. I thought for sure our leader would've made Kouki the greeter."

The woman just smirked and Relena thought she was a little creepy. "But I wanted to meet Touma's sister myself," she answered. "I never got the chance back when Touma was assisting the professor and all."

Mephismon put Relena down and she saw him shake his head. "That Norstein is still an enemy."

The woman pouted. "I'm sure with Relena with us things will be quite different."

Relena glared at Nanami. "Like this plan of yours would work. Last time I was Kurata's prisoner Brother joined just long enough to save me and then betrayed him."

Nanami laughed "Who said anything about you being a prisoner?" she asked.

Relena blinked and went to grab her digivice.

"You aren't going to need that," a stern voice said from the direction of the base. A voice which was very familiar. It couldn't be who she thought it was. That wasn't possible.

"You came out here yourself?" Mephismon asked, concern in his voice that Relena hadn't heard before. "What if we were followed?"

"Of course I did. I thought that Relena could use some convincing."

Relena slowly turned to the base and dropped her digivice at the person that she saw there, her eyes proving her ears right.

"Grandmother?"


	18. Normal

Yuka's muscles were screaming as she continued running around the track. This was only her first make up session and she already wanted to drop dead.

Tsukaimon fell on the track behind her with a thud. "I can't fly anymore!" he complained, his voice sounding even more high pitched than usual.

"Is that all you got?" Makino-sensei asked from her position off the side of the track. "You've only done ten laps. You still have another twenty to go!"

Tsukaimon let out whine. "Can we please go fight the Virus Busters' generals instead?"

Yuka agreed with him. That had to be much easier than this and whatever else Makino-sensei was going to do to them.

"You're being a little bit unfair Ruki-san," a familiar male voice said, and for a moment Yuka could've run up and kissed Takaishi-sensei... until she remembered that would be VERY bad. And he would probably let Makino-sensei keep doing this.

Either way, the young girl turned to look at her two teachers, her t-shirt and shorts plastered against her body with sweat. She panted, her hands going to her knees, but she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to avoid falling on the ground or not.

Takaishi-sensei had an amused smirk on his face, and Makino-sensei looked annoyed. "That's not the point. She wants to be like Daimon-san, she can do laps like Daimon-san."

"Chika-chan's a bio-hybrid," Takaishi-sensei pointed out. "She's older and stronger than Yuka can ever hope to be, especially right now."

Yuka felt a tinge of annoyance at that. First off, she could become plenty strong! Second, did EVERYONE know that Chika-neesan was a bio-hybrid?

Makino-sensei just snorted. "Details, details..."

Takaishi-san's amused look faded. "Ruki-san..."

Makino-sensei sighed. "Fine, fine." She turned over to Yuka. "Go take a shower and get ready for class."

Yuka groaned, and fell flat on her face. These early 7:00 AM make-up sessions were going to kill her!

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 18: Normal

.o0o.

"You feeling okay?" Piyomon asked.

Chika just nodded, even though she really didn't know what to do right now. Kurata was after her, Relena, and Miyako, but why? Digimon data was surely plentiful enough in the world, so what exactly was so special about the data that was in them?

"You sure you aren't mad with me?" Piyomon asked, moving closer to her.

Chika shook her head, trying to think. "Yuka shouldn't become an agent early. You know how messed up it can make her."

"We're running out of time though. Both Kurata and the Virus Busters are making their moves now," Piyomon replied.

Chika sighed and leaned against the smooth metal walls of the building. "I know." It felt cold to the touch, her bare arms freezing as they came in contact with the wall. "But Yuka's just a little kid with no idea about what she's getting into Piyomon. It's too dangerous for her."

"You're wrong about that," Ikuto said, walking into the hallway. "Whatever other reasons we have for her not to join DATS now, she knows what she's getting into after everything that just happened."

Chika glared at Ikuto. "She's your sister! You're not supposed to agree with him on this! You've seen what can happen when idiot kids who want to prove themselves get in over their heads!"

Ikuto just turned away from her. "I know, and I don't agree. But what happened to you... it would've happened somehow, with or without you being in DATS. Kurata chose you specifically to hurt Masaru and your father's memory. He would've gone after you no matter what."

"You really think that she'll be in danger here!? Do you think that you can risk what happened to Yuma-chan happening to Yuka!?"

Ikuto tensed up at that, his face twisting into a snarl that Chika had only seen a few times before. "I already said I DON'T WANT HER IN DATS!" he shouted, turning to look at Chika. "But face it, even if we tell her she can't try to join, what's going to stop her from sneaking out again!" He took a deep breath and turned away again. "Besides, trying for this... isn't my choice."

Chika felt terrible. She knew that Ikuto didn't want anything to happen to Yuka. She was just being a jerk and and idiot... like usual. She needed to do something."Ikuto-kun..." she began, moving over from the wall and towards Ikuto. It took her a moment, but soon her arms were wrapped around his body from behind. "I'm sorry."

She felt Ikuto grave one of her hands and give it a quick squeeze. "It's alright," Ikuto said softly. "It's just..."

"I know..."

.o0o.

Yuka sighed and leaned back against the chair she was sitting in. Who knew that school work could pile up like this in a few weeks.

"We're never going to finish all this stuff in time!" Tsukaimon shouted, looking over at the mountain of paper at the desk.

Yuka sighed again. "Well... this is kinda our fault."

Tsukaimon blinked at that. "Responsibility? Coming from you?"

Yuka glared at him... before she burst out laughing and grabbed her history textbook she was supposed to be reading. She opened up the newly printed text and began to read. "After the human's and digimon gained some semblance of stability in their relationships after the world's fused... another crisis struck the world when the Wind Guardians, now known as the Virus Busters, and the Nightmare Soldiers went to war..."

.o0o.

Masaru smirked as he saw Touma walk into the apartment and sat down at the table he was sitting at, thankful that he had been smart enough to plan this meeting at his apartment instead of at a public place. Yoshino was out for a little bit, but even if she was here it wouldn't really matter that much, he'd just was going to need to tell this twice.

"Have you found anything?" Touma asked, not seeming to be that interested in what Masaru had to report, and considering the lack of information and concrete leads he had gotten in his mission the last ten years, Masaru really couldn't blame him.

But for now... "Actually, I have."

Touma stared at him. "You found him?"

Masaru nodded. "I finally have some form of answers."

"You need to tell us now!" Touma shouted, looking like he was about to jump out of his chair.

"Not yet," Masaru said. "I only have a little bit of knowledge, and it's nothing that's going to help now. All I've found out is that Yggdrasil is still around..." he started trailing off. He really didn't have answers after all...

Touma smiled. "Still, that's more than we've been able to go on for the last ten years. Have you heard about the Royal Knights?" he asked.

"Most of them went missing after the merger," Masaru answered. "Omegamon separated into the two digimon he was before, then both of them were killed and reformatted. Craniummon we knew died when Lilithmon was awakened... Dukemon's probably dead as well. Last I heard from Dynasmon and Alforce V-dramon they were going to put a stop to the Virus Busters, but that was years ago you know the problem we have now."

Touma nodded. "It's unlikely that the two of them are still alive then, although they would've had to have been killed by one of the Celestial Generals..."

"Or they could've jumped ship and joined either the Virus Busters or Nightmare Soldiers like Victory Greymon left the Virus... no, they were the Wind Guardians back then, and joined and became the Nightmare Soldiers leader," Masaru answered. "I really don't know much, I'd still be looking right now if Chika and I weren't attacked and Chika hadn't filled me in on what's happening."

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. "Look, Touma... I'm sorry about what happened with Relena. Just say the word, and I'll be right there with you when we go to get her back."

Touma smiled at that. "Thank you."

Masaru could tell that Touma was hopping that they'd be able to get her back this time.

.o0o.

Yuka felt weird being back in class with everyone else, just being seated in a packed room with several people sitting at desks. Even though the training they were going under was important, most of the other student's concerns were so... child-like.

A few of the boys were bragging to each other about how badass they were going to be when they finally got to join DATS. Others were talking about a new videogame or movie that was coming out. And the girls weren't being that much better. Some of the girls were whining about their parents not letting them get some jewelery or expensive hair cut. Others were squeeing about Masaru-niisan, Doctor Norstein, and even Ikuto-nii.

For the first time since she became a trainee, Yuka understood one of the good reasons that the age limit had been put in place like it had. And why they now had so much training to do. If these... kids became DATS agents anytime soon, they would die.

Her attention turned to Tsukaimon, who looked like he was also noticing this. When had the two of them changed so much? It was only a few weeks ago that they were exactly like them.

It was scary.

Takaishi-sensei stood at the front of the classroom by the blackboard. It looked like he had an announcement before the start of the class. "Good morning," he began. "Before I begin today's lessons, we have an announcement to make."

Yuka noticed that everyone's attention was now on Takaishi-sensei. She wondered what he was going to say.

"On reflection from Commander Satsuma and other high ranking members of DATS on this matter, it has been decided that a test to allow early graduation into full DATS agents is to occur two months from now..."

All the kids in the room burst into cheers, except for Yuka and Tsukaimon. Yuka thought her teacher seemed... annoyed at what he had to say. Considering who he was possibly allowing to become an agent, that was saying something...

... but why were they going through with it at all?

"If you would like to participate in the exam, you must return this permission slip by the end of the week," Takaishi-sensei said, handing a stack of permission slips to the first student at the desks.

It didn't take that long for the stack to come over to Yuka. She sighed, quickly taking one and passing the pile on, before staring at the piece of paper.

A few weeks ago she would've been jumping for joy. But now? She really didn't mind that her mother was probably going to say no, even if this might let her go back and find Relena.

.o0o.

After class Yuka headed back to her family's apartment, waving to a few of her classmates as she left the school building. The ancient castle that was built into ElDoradimon's back was sparkling clean, something that showed both ElDoradimon's age and how good the maintenance crews were at their job. Tsukaimon was in her arms, like usual.

Yuka stopped as she saw Masaru walking away from the school building.

"Where do you think he's going?" Tsukaimon asked.

"I don't know," Yuka said, walking after him.

"Wait, we're going to follow him?" Tsukaimon asked.

Yuka nodded. "We havn't seen Masaru-niisan in a while."

"Well, yeah, but it isn't like he won't say hi to us later, right?" Tsukaimon asked, a little doubtful.

"Oh, come on!" Yuka exclaimed, going after him faster.

Tsukaimon sighed. "Okay, okay, but we run like hell if he meets up with Yoshino-neechan, right?"

Yuka blushed. "Yes, yes. We run." She didn't think she was close enough to Masaru-niisan for him to hear her yet, so she just followed after him.

It didn't take them long to see Masaru laying down on ElDoradimon's head. It was so odd to see that Yuka stopped in her tracks and just stared at him.

"It's been a while since I've been here, hasn't it?" Masaru said

ElDoradimon let out a low, soft groan... that was still pretty loud.

Masaru laughed. "I know, I know, but I've been busy."

Another groan was the answer to that, and Yuka thought that maybe Masaru-niisan could understand what ElDoradimon was saying.

"That's different. They were all on the base!"

Yet another groan.

"You know, you were easier to get along with when you were Kamemon and occasionally spoke Japanese."

This got him another groan, this one a little more sad sounding.

Masaru sighed. "Sorry. That was uncalled for. I miss him too, Kamemon."

Yuka turned around and walked away. She could speak to Masaru-niisan later.

"Where are we going now?" Tsukaimon asked.

"Home," Yuka answered. "We need to give this permission slip to Mom."

"You sure?"

Yuka nodded. "Yeah. We should at least try. Can't let all those idiots in our class try to get in without us. Do you think any of them are ready?"

"No, but are we?"

Yuka sighed. She really didn't have an answer for him.


	19. Changes

Relena couldn't believe what she was seeing. "You're... alive?" she asked. She didn't have many memories of the woman standing in front of her now; she was dead. She had been dead for a long time. Longer than her father...

Her grandmother just smiled at her. "I'd certainly hope so, being dead would make things difficult."

Relena ran up and nearly tackled her grandmother into a hug. "But why didn't you say anything? You've been gone for years?" She felt her grandmother's arms wrap around her body, and this hug was all the proof that she needed to know that her grandmother was actually there. That this wasn't a dream or hallucination.

"Things got chaotic after the worlds merged together..." her grandmother began. "There were many things that needed to be done, I didn't have the time..."

Relena didn't really care why, she was just happy that her grandmother was there.

"Boss," Mephismon said with a cough.

Relena just turned her head and glared at the virus digimon... before what he said hit her. She turned her attention back to her grandmother. "Boss? You're Mephismon's boss?"

Her grandmother just nodded, a frown on her face.

Relena blinked at her. "You ordered him to kidnap me?"

There was no answer from her grandmother.

"Why?" Relena asked, pulling away. This didn't make any sense...

"I needed to get you back from DATS," her grandmother answered. "After everything that happened with your father's death, I couldn't leave you there."

"But why now?" Relena asked.

"This was just the first successful attempt."

Relena turned away, clenching her fist. Her father was dead, and those bastards at DATS knew about it, no, had supported it. "They can't get away with that," Relena hissed as she turned back to her grandmother. "I don't care what's going on here. I want to make Chika pay for killing him!"

"What about Touma?" her grandmother asked, her voice just as even and professional as it ever was.

Relena closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know... he kept it a secret, but he's my brother." She opened her eyes again. "But even still, they all hid that!"

Relena soon found herself in another hug from her grandmother, and gentle hand running through her hair. "It's alright. It's still early to decide what to do."

"But!" Relena protested, but her grandmother just shushed her.

"I have someone I want you to see first."

"What?" Relena asked, confused. Who could her grandmother want her to see? Her father was dead, and unless it was Kurata... she couldn't think of anyone.

Her grandmother released her and turned away. "Follow me," she ordered, before she started walking deeper into the rather spartan looking base.

Relena followed her without a word. Compared to DATS base... it looked just as modern and militaristic, but not being on the back of an Eldoradimon made it seem a lot different. She saw a ton of masked soldiers all over the place, and along the way they passed by a maintenance deck with a bunch of scientists working on Gizmon.

Relena shivered. It felt weird being in the same place as those things... or rather, it felt weird being in the same place as them and not being shot at.

Her grandmother stopped in front of a gray metal door and pressed a button on the side of it. The door quickly slipped open, and Relena could only gasp at what she saw.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom-Magnum

Chapter 19: Changes

.o0o.

Yuka sighed as she walked into her family's apartment. She kicked off her shoes at the door and slipped her feet into her slippers. It felt comfortable, and she hadn't realized how much she missed things like this until she was away from home and then back.

"Welcome home Yuka!" her mother called from the kitchen before Yuka could even announce her presence.

Yuka shivered. That couldn't be good. Usually her mom waited until she said she was home first before saying that. Something must be bothering her...

"Come on Yuka," Tsukaimon said. "We need to go say hi to mom." He wasn't anymore excited than she was.

Yuka and Tsukaimon moved through the rather comfy-looking living room and into the kitchen, where their mother was waiting. She was sitting at the table, a full mug of tea resting in front of her. There wasn't any steam coming out of the cup. "Are you okay mama?" she asked as Tsukaimon nervously flew towards their mother.

"...It's nothing," their mother said after a moment, but Yuka could tell that was a lie.

"No it's not!" Yuka shouted, running up to her mother. "Something made you upset!"

Tsukaimon pouted as he flew circles around the two of them. "What's wrong? Please tell us!"

Her mother didn't seem to be saying anything, so Yuka just hugged her. "What's wrong?" she asked again.

Her mother just shook her head and broke away from Yuka. "Do you have the permission slip?" she asked.

Yuka blinked.

Tsukaimon's eyes widened. "You're going to let us!?"

Their mother just nodded.

Yuka's eyes soon matched her partner's. She couldn't believe that they were going to get the chance to join DATS! She was sure her mother would've said no. Yuka's hand darted into the her bag to find the slip, grabbing it from it's resting place under a few notebooks. But this didn't make any sense. "But... why?"

Her mother just sighed. "The entire reason they're even doing the test for early graduation in the first place is to get you two promoted."

Yuka dropped the bag. "What?"

"You two can thank Piyomon bringing up you evolving Tsukaimon to Metal Greymon for that," their mother said bitterly.

Yuka just blinked at that and handed her mother the permission slip. She knew what was bothering her mom now... but what was going on? "What does that have to do with anything?"

"People your age don't usually get their partner's to the perfect level," her mother answered with a sigh. "The last few times that happened was with Ikuto, Chika, and Takaishi Takeru. That's not something they want to overlook. Not with everything that's happening."

"But then why have this long training anyway?" Tsukaimon asked.

Their mother just sighed and turned to look at the wall for a moment. Yuka couldn't tell why. "You two know what happened to Chika, right?"

"Yeah," Yuka answered.

"That's why. Although apparently it's gotten bad enough for them to conveniently 'forget' about it." Her mother said, taking a nearby pen and signing the slip before handing it back to Yuka.

Yuka took it, and stared down at it. With this, she could graduate early. She hugged her mother again. "Thank you." She was going to do her best... no, they were going to pass.

And they'd be the best DATS agents the world had ever seen.

.o0o.

"You know, I almost hadn't realized that you were back here."

Chika sighed and turned her head from her perch at the bar stool to see Takeru slip in to the seat next to her. She just turned back to her drink. "Sorry."

Takeru just sighed. "Is something wrong?" he asked, and Chika suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, and her face grew hot like she was a still a little school girl.

She needed to focus on anything but his hand. The last time there was any touching between them... her face started to burn and she took a rather large sip of her drink, the soda going cooling down her throat. Right now she was glad that she hadn't gotten alcohol like most of the bar's other patrons. Being drunk right now wouldn't be a good idea. "No, I'm just fine..."

Now Takeru was squeezing her shoulder and she let out a sigh. "Are you sure?"

No. She hadn't been fine since Kurata had gotten his hands on her. She wasn't going to tell him that though. She didn't say anything.

"You know, it might be rude of me to say this, but I miss how you used to be," Takeru said.

He then finally took his hand off of her shoulder, and Chika turned to look at him, frowning. "Takeru-kun," she said with a sigh.

Takeru shook his head. "Sorry, that was rude of me."

Chika sighed and turned back to staring down the center of her glass. "It's okay." She needed to focus on something to keep her body from trembling.

"It's just that I can't help feeling that I"m responsible for it, the way you bolted that night."

Chika winced, her eyes closing tightly.

Doing that turned out ot be a mistake,her memories of that night almost half a decade ago came back. She and Takeru together, most of their clothes missing, hands roaming way past the boundaries of "just friends". She quickly opened her eyes. "It's not your fault. It's mine."

"That's not how it seems from my end," Takeru answered. "You've been distant from everyone since then..."

Chika sighed. "You're not the one who cheated on someone you thought you loved," she said, finally vocalizing something that she hadn't told anyone, not even Ikuto-kun, since it happened. She couldn't tell him, and she was surprised she could even tell Takeru-kun this.

Takeru didn't say anything.

"I'm so horrible..." Chika said. "I hadn't even been with him for a week before I jumped into bed with you without even a second thought until we had almost..." she sobbed, and took another long gulp of her drink.

"Chika-chan..." Takeru said, and Chika suddenly found his arm around her waist.

She knew he was trying to just give her comfort. Just trying to make her feel better. But still... this. No. She stood up, knocking his arm off of her. "I'm sorry Takeru-kun. I need to go."

And with that she started heading out of the bar.

"Chika-chan!"

Chika just ignored him, and left the bar, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

.o0o

Mephismon sighed as he walked deeper not his master's lab. Usually he would be doing this only to get his orders or to get paid, but right now he just needed to get away from that Norstein girl. Her newfound cheer since being brought here was starting to get infectious.

He had enough memory problems as it was without adding happiness into the mix.

"Something wrong Mephismon-san?" a voice said from behind him. "If I didn't know better I'd say that little Relena-chan disturbed you for some reason."

Mephismon turned to see that Kurata was standing behind him, an amused look on his face. "I didn't think you were inclined to care beyond me doing my job," the digimon spat.

Kurata laughed. "True, but this time around those Virus Buster hybrids did the work for you, didn't they?"

It was almost too late for Mephismon to remember that smashing his boss's face in was not smart. "If that Daimon bitch and her little bird hadn't gotten in the way, that wouldn't be true!" The demon digimon said, ignoring the small part of him that nagged that he was lucky that Garudamon hadn't killed him. He only remembered blacking out before Garudamon was going to kill him... and then waking up alive.

Kurata sighed. "I hate people with the name Daimon as much as you do, but really Mephismon, take some responsibility for your failures once in a while."

This time Mephismon let out a growl, and Kurata just laughed at him again. The scientist did that far too often.

"Would you please stop antagonizing each other like that?" Agatha Norstein asked as she slowly entered the lab. "I'd swear that both of you were secretly Kouki if I didn't know otherwise."

Both Mephismon and Kurata turned to their leader.

Kurata smiled. "If that's what you want Norstein-sama," Kurata said, rather differently than he talked to anyone else.

Mephismon thought that the sudden change in the scientist's personality was disgusting.

Agatha sighed, and turned her attention over to Kurata. "What's the progress for that plan?"

"Everything is on schedule, and Gizmon production is at an accelerated pace even with those lost units we lent to that idiot Dominimon," Kurata answered. "DATS won't know what hit them once we're through. Their Eldoradimon will have the same fate as the last one, I can guarantee it."

"Good. And the other project?"

Kurata winced. Mephismon could barely contain his shock. The doctor never let any sign of failure show that openly.

"That... isn't going as well as we hoped. We only have ten of the twelve artifacts needed, even with the one we just got..."

"We are not using that one!" Agatha shouted. "Get one of the other two then. We should only need ten."

"Norstein-sama, we have ten right now, even if two of them give the same type of energy!" Kurata protested. "If we get another one the balance will be fine if you use-"

"That's my final word on the subject!" Agatha shouted. "Find the other two we need then."

The two of them glared at each other for a moment. Finally, Kurata let out a sigh. "Fine, you're the one going to be using it after all."

Mephismon had the distinct feeling that his boss was annoyed with Kurata. He didn't know why he knew that, but it seemed to come deep from within his core.

"How are the other soldiers doing?" Agatha asked.

"Kouki and Nanami are both prepared for what needs to be done," Kurata answered, moving over to a nearby computer terminal. "Nanami still refused to go through the bio-hybridization again, but her Wormmon has access to the Ultimate level now, so it isn't too much of a problem."

Agatha nodded.

"The other soldiers also seem to be prepared for what we're planning," Kurata said, pausing for a moment as he started typing something. "And now that we have your granddaughter with us, we have an ace to use as leverage against Touma."

Agatha just glared at the back of Kurata's head. "Relena won't be a bargining chip!"

"Then just how are we going to deal with your grandson?"

Agatha didn't say anything. "We'll deal with that when the time comes. Now, what about those other artifacts that we recovered from the Virus Buster's Shadow Warrior?"

Kurata just typed something, and on a large monitor on the wall an image of two small black lion-shaped objects. "It's interesting to get one of the original inspirations for what we're trying to accomplish, but without the other eighteen... they're useless to us."

Agatha nodded. "Keep sending Silphymon after Daimon and Ichijouji then. We need to recover what we stupidly lost."


	20. Planning

Chika knew that it was only a matter of time before this happened. She just didn't think that Commander Satsuma would've ordered deployment to liberate Yokohoma this soon. She looked around at the other agents and officers that were gathered in the rather large briefing room. Both Ikuto and Takeru were there and Chika tried her best to ignore both of them, even though Takeru's placement on a mission was odd.

He was a school teacher now, after all. Miki and Megumi were also present, but they were helping to explain what their mission was. They weren't going to be going with them.

But thinking about things like this would just make her miss what the actual mission was supposed to be, so she decided to wait until after the briefing to figure it out.

From the mission details that she had heard so far, they weren't planning on being stealthy about it at all. They were flat out going to invade and strike the Virus Busters hard.

At least, that's what MOST of the agents were going to be doing anyway.

"While the main forces will engaged the Virus Buster's defensive forces, Agents Daimon, Noguchi, and Takaishi will find and either capture or kill the three Virus Buster Generals that will be in the area..." Megumi said, typing at the terminal she was seated at. In that instant, three pictures appeared on the screen, showing Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon. "As it is now, unless a blow like this is dealt to the Virus Busters, it is unlikely that we will be able to take back Yokohoma by force."

"It is vital that the Virus Busters be defeated, but as it is there is a likely chance that Kurata's forces will be giving the Virus Busters reinforcements," Miki added. "There is no guarantee that this mission will be an easy one."

Chika thought that was a stupid thing to say. It was on an "easy" mission that she had been abducted and tortured by Kurata. She banished those thoughts from her head and concentrated on the briefing. It seemed that the rest of the forces were going to attack the city from multiple flanks, with Captain Yagami leading the forces that were supposed to cover her, Takeru, and Ikuto's entrance.

It was long after that the meeting was dismissed, and Chika quickly got up to leave the room and get ready. There was only three more days before they were deployed.

"Soon we're going to have to fight them," Piyomon said, walking next to her. "I hope Patamon is up to it."

Chika sighed. "If he wasn't Takeru-kun wouldn't have accepted the mission in the first place."

Piyomon nodded at that. "You okay with this? Really?"

"Yeah," Chika said, ignoring the sudden knot in her stomach. "They need to be stopped."

Piyomon sighed. "That's not what I meant."

Chika didn't say anything. She'd be fine being near both Ikuto and Takeru. They would be professional.

The knot felt like a tumor now.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 20: Planning

.o0o.

"Chika-chan!" A woman's voice shouted from somewhere, and Chika panicked when she realized that she couldn't tell which direction it came from. This street outside the base was so packed right now. It was odd.

But she did recognize the voice, and pretty soon realized that it was behind her. Chika turned towards it, just in time to feel Yoshino's arms wrap around her body. She smiled a bit. "Hey Yoshino-neechan!"

Yoshino looked a lot like Chika remembered from back when she was a little kid, except that her hair was just a little longer, going down to her shoulders now. "You've been avoiding me lately," Yoshino said.

Chika frowned. She really had been avoiding EVERYONE. "Yoshino-neechan...."

Yoshino laughed. "Don't be so embarrassed about it!" Yoshino said, pulling away from Chika. "Come on, we need to do something together before your mission."

"I really should get ready for it though..." Chika said.

Yoshino sighed. "Come on! You've been doing nothing but missions and work related stuff for years! After this situation is resolved, you need to take a vacation, but at least take a break for a day!" And with that, the older woman started dragging Chika somewhere.

"Yoshino-neechan!?" Chika shouted as she was dragged away towards somewhere, Piyomon slowing walking after them. "Where are you taking me?" There wasn't much that she could do to get out of this though.

Yoshino smirked. "I'm taking you shopping. You haven't enjoyed yourself in a while and you used to love this!"

Chika sighed as she was continued being dragged. "Masaru-niichan is a bad influence on you," she said.

Piyomon laughed as he followed them.

Chika knew there was only one thing she could do to get back at Yoshino. "So, when are you and Masaru-niichan getting married? I mean, you've been... well, for years now."

Yoshino faltered, and her grip on Chika's arm weakened. Chika knew she only had one chance and broke away from Yoshino. "Sorry Neechan!" she shouted as she ran away from Yoshino. She didn't need to waste time shopping for useless things now anyway.

"Chika!"

Chika ignored Yoshino's shouted and darted around various people and digimon who were walking in the street.... and crashed into someone almost immediately, both of them falling to the ground with whoever it was on top of her. Chika couldn't see his or her face because her eyes were looking at the side, but even so, this was bad.

"What's wrong Chika?"

Chika made sure not to gulp as she realized that Ikuto was now on top of her. This just wasn't her week. Or month. Or Year.

Or half a decade really.

It took a few moments for Ikuto to pick himself off of her, and he held out his hand.

Chika took it and Ikuto helped pull her to her feet. She blushed at him, at the contact, and she wondered why she could be reduced to preteen schoolgirl again. "Sorry Ikuto-kun."

Ikuto stared at her. "It's okay," he said, blinking a bit. "Why'd you run out so fast?"

Chika blushed more. She didn't want to admit that she didn't want to be near anyone right now. "Yoshino-neechan wanted to take me shopping."

Ikuto blinked at her. "You love shopping."

Chika turned away from him, making sure that Yoshino wasn't near them. This might cost her her only chance at keeping her day intact. "Ikuto-kun..."

Ikuto didn't say anything for a moment, and then Chika felt his hand rest on her shoulder, sending a shiver through her body. "Listen... Chika. Takeru and I are going to go out later tonight. Do you want to come?"

Chika slowly turned around to look at him, and was about to say no. But the pleading look that she saw in his eyes stopped her.

"Please?" And the pleading tone in his voice. He sounded like he REALLY wanted her to go with them.

... But she...

"...Okay," Chika found herself saying, surprising even herself.

There was silence for a few moments, and then Chika let out a squeak as she felt herself in a hug from Ikuto. Her head was suddenly in his chest. "Ikuto-kun!" Before she had realized it, her hands were around him as well. It felt nice being like this... but a little wrong as well, and Chika wasn't sure why.

Ikuto pulled away after a few moments. "Sorry..."

Chika shook her head. "It's fine."

"I'll see you later?" Ikuto asked, his voice sounding really desperate and hopeful.

Chika nodded, still wondering what she was doing, but she wasn't going to change her mind.

Ikuto beamed at her. "Great! See you tonight!" he said, before he started heading back towards the building.

Chika shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her? At this rate things were going to get...

Another hand grabbed her by the shoulder and Chika turned around to see Yoshino standing behind her with a grin on her face. "Now you definitely need to go shopping!"

"No I don't," Chika said, and even she could tell her voice sounded pathetic.

Yoshino shook her head. "You can't just wear anything! You're going out with Ikuto and Takeru for the first time in years!" And with that, Yoshino dragged Chika off again.

Chika wondered how being with Marasu equaled shopaholic Yoshino, but she knew there was no way out of it now.

.o0o.

"Relena! You're choking me!"

"Sorry!" Relena said as she pulled away from the small blue lizard digimon that was in her arms right now.

V-mon.

Her partner was alive.

"I missed you so much," she said, tears in her eyes.

After her grandmother had showed her that her partner was still alive, the two of them were taken to a rather luxurious room in order to get settled in. It was much more expensive looking than her room at the DATS base, even considering that she was a Norstein.

But she really didn't give a damn about the room right now. She could be in the darkest, most horrible cell in a dungeon somewhere and she'd still be ecstatic if V-mon were with her. "I thought you were..." Relena started, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. She grabbed her digivice and instead evolved to Bio Lighdramon. "But you're..."

V-mon smiled, and in a flash of blue like... Relena's natural digisoul, he too had evolved. Now both of them were near mirror images of each other, certain pieces of armor and gender being the only difference between them.

Relena smirked and then pounced on Lighdramon, knocking him to the floor. It didn't take long for Lighdramon to flip their positions around before nipping at her neck, causing Relena to let out a gasp. "V-mon!"

Lighdramon looked at her oddly. "Is something wrong?"

Relena panted and stared up at her partner. "No... it's just you startled me..."

Lighdramon pouted. "Sorry..."

Relena sighed. "It's okay," she said, leaning forward and nuzzling Lighdramon's neck with her own.

"I missed you too..." Lighdramon said.

Relena closed her eyes, devolving and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Hey, It's okay." Then there was something warm and wet on her check and she pulled back to see Lighdramon smiling at her. She giggled. "Silly..."

Lighdramon devolved back into V-mon and tackled her into a hug.

"Glad to see you two are happy to see each other."

Relena gasped and turned to see Mephismon standing in the doorway of the room. She glared at him. "Is that really any business of yours?"

Mephismon sighed and V-mon growled at him. "I guess not, but the boss wants to see you."

Relena smiled and climbed to her feet, keeping her arms around V-mon. "Take us to grandma then."

Mephismon rolled his eyes. "You certainly act like a spoiled brat," he said, his voice taking a sharper tone now.

Relena just glared at him.

Mephismon sighed and turned around. "Make sure you keep up brat."

Relena didn't say anything else, but followed after him through the spartan halls of the base. V-mon was walking at her side, and she tried her best not to shiver as they passed by a group of activated Gizmon, pulling V-mon closer to her. He looked up at her. "It's okay," he said. "They're not programmed to attack us."

Relena stared down at him as they kept walking forward. "I just found you again..."

"Relena..."

Mephismon let out a cough. Relena turned to look at the demon, and saw that they were in front of a rather plain looking door. "We're here."

Relena blinked at the door, before stepping towards it, V-mon following after her. The door opened automatically as they approached it.

The office itself was rather spartan, with her grandmother sitting behind a simple oak desk. "Grandma!" Relena shouted happily, running up to the desk. "You called for us?"

Her grandmother nodded and stood up out of her seat and walked around the desk. She placed a hand on Relena's shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

Relena smiled. "I'm so happy. Seeing you and V-mon again, I almost can't believe it!" But... Relena frowned. "I just wish that father was here." She clenched her fists, a purple haze of digisoul flaring to light around them.

"Relena..." V-mon said, shocked.

Her grandmother just sighed and pulled Relena into a hug. "I'm sorry child, but I'm lucky enough to have been here and recognize V-mon. "

Relena relaxed her fists, and then broken down crying into her Grandmother's chest, her arms wrapping around the old woman's body. Her grandmother ran her hand through her hair. "It's okay child... I'm here now."

Relena kept crying for some time but eventually she was able to stop herself. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.

Her Grandmother looked down at her in shock. "What do you mean?"

Relena looked into her Grandmother's eyes. "I want to help you against DATS!" I need to avenge father and save Touma! Please let me help!"

"Relena..." V-mon began.

Her grandmother shook her head. "I'm not sure it would be good for you, Relena."

"I'll be fine!" she protested. "I'm strong enough to fight!"

Her grandmother didn't say anything. Relena's eyes narrowed. "Please! I need to make Chika pay!"

"What about the members of DATS who didn't have anything to do with it?" her grandmother asked her.

Relena didn't have to think about it. She didn't care. "I'll fight them too! I have to!"

Her Grandmother sighed. "Alright then. You're old enough to make your own choices, but you'll have to do some other missions before I'll deliberately let you go after Daimon Chika."

Relena's eyes lit up. "Thank you!" And with that, Relena tightened her hug on her grandmother.

"I'll be there too!" V-mon said.

Relena broke away from her Grandmother and turned to look at her partner. V-mon just looked over at her. "I'm not going to let you do it alone!" he said.

"V-mon..." Relena began, but she was interrupted by her Grandmother laughing.

"I'd be disappointed if you weren't by her side V-mon. That's where partners should be."

V-mon blushed. "Thanks..." Relena giggled and wrapped her arms around V-mon, kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks V-mon."

The lizard digimon's blush just deepened.

Her Grandmother coughed, before walking around her desk again. She opened up a draw, and pulled something out of it. Relena couldn't tell what the object that her Grandmother took was, at least until the older woman put a squared device down on the desktop.

It was a digivice. One that looked almost the same as her own.

"You two are going to need that if you're going to fight together," her Grandmother explained.

Relena looked over at the digivice for a moment, before taking it into her hand.

"That one should allow you to filter your artificial and natural digisoul's from each other." Her Grandmother explained. "With that, you should be able to evolve both yourself and V-mon easily."

Relena's eyes lit up at that. With this, they should be able to eventually fight Chika! "Thank you Grandma! I promise we won't let you down!" She then turned to V-mon and flashed him a smile.

V-mon nodded

Relena turned and saluted her grandmother. "Where do you need us first, Commander?"

Her grandmother laughed at that and sat down at her desk, typing something on her keyboard.

A holographic map flashed into existence between the two of them.

"You're going to be part of the forces supporting the Virus Busters in Yokohoma..."


	21. Friends and Relationships

Author's Note:

Hey guys, remember this fic?

... no? Darn. Oh well. Anyway...

Alright, in all seriousness this fic was delayed for three months because I was too lazy to type it up, but that's going to change, I swear.

... Mostly because I actually have another month's worth of chapters typed up now, and a way to type it up and work while I write this, but still... really, that's no excuse. I can only promise all of my reader's that it will not happen again.

.o0o.

Chika found it hard to go shopping after all this time. It had been years since she had looked through stacks of clothes or looking for the exact perfect dress in a sea of dull items. She didn't know how she had ever handled it before. She also didn't know how Yoshino was expertly handling it right now, shoving more clothes into her hands than she had seen in the last five years. "Yoshino-neechan!" Chika exclaimed as she was suddenly shoved and locked into a dressing room. She sighed, and looked over the clothes that she had to try on.

Three of the outfits she immediately rejected, all of them showing a lot more skin than she was comfortable with. The young woman held up a rather modest dress in front of her body and turned to look in the mirror that was hanging on the wall... and immediately felt like throwing up. It looked way too pink and too bright, something that she would've worn back before...

Chika shook her head and threw the dress into the far corner of the dressing room. She did not need to break down right now. She sighed and picked up another dress, this one looking much better on her eyes. While it was still pink, it looked dark enough to be red under the right light... even if there were two slits in the side of it that would bare the sides of her stomach. She went to hang it on the hook, before realizing something. This dress was the most modest one out of all the ones that Yoshino had picked out for her, except that light pink monstrosity.

She sighed and hung it on the nearest door hook and stripped off her, jacket, shirt, and skirt of her uniform. She looked over at the mirror for a second, her eyes flashing to the reflection of her scar, frowning. She quickly grabbed the dress and slipped into it and looked over at the mirror again.

... She looked pretty good in it. She would've preferred not having the slits showing skin at the sides, since it was practically shouting "stab here!" Chika then shook her head. This was supposed to be fore a fun night, not for a fight.

Still...

Chika blushed, and quickly changed back into her uniform. "Yoshino, I picked something, you can let me out now!"

A few seconds later and the door opened, Yoshino poking her head in with a frown on her face.

"What's wrong?" Chika asked, shoving the other dresses at the older woman, who caught them in her hands.

"I wanted to see you in what you picked," the older woman mock whined a bit.

Chika just smirked at Yoshino. "You know, you should stick to romancing the Daimon within a decade of your age!"

Yoshino gasped at that. "Chika!"

Chika giggled... and then gasped. She hadn't giggled since... Chika shook her head. "I better go pay for this and head home."

Yoshino just grabbed her by the arm and dropping the dresses into a nearby basket. "No. Now you need new shoes. I have to make sure that this goes good for you."

"Yoshino-neechan!"

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom Magnum

Chapter 21: Friends and Relationships

.o0o.

Yuka panted, blocking a sword strike from Takaishi-sensei, only to almost be knocked back by the force of the swing anyway. Was he trying to kill her?! The young girl charged forward and swung her practice word at his waist, as quickly as her small frame could muster.

He blocked.

And punched her in the face.

Yuka went sprawling to the ground.

Devidramon snarled and charged at her teacher, only to get blasted into a wall by a green blast of energy. Yuka turned her attention to where the green blast came from, her teacher's partner, a large flying horse digimon just looking bored as he stared at Devidramon's direction.

"You need to do better than this Yuka," Takaishi-sensei said. "If you can't stand a decent chance against me at this level, you're not likely to pass the test."

Yuka glared at her teacher, but got to her feet anyway, sinking back down into a fighting stance. Her digisoul flared to life around her hands and the blade, while Devidramon looked over at Takaishi-sensei's Pegasmon, his eyes glowing red as he struggled to his feet.

Takaishi-sensei smirked and then charged over at Yuka, swinging his blade down over his head.

Yuka rolled out of the way and quickly jumped to her feet and charged at him, stabbing her practice blade at his chest.

"Red Eye!" Devidramon shouted, firing four red beams of eneryg out of his eyes. Pegasmon flew into the air and counted with another blast of green energy from his forehead

Takaishi-sensei effortlessly parried Yuka's stab and sent her sprawling into the ground again.

Yuka did her best to hold in a curse. Saying that word in front of a teacher was not a good idea, no matter how much she wanted to right now.

Takaishi-sensei just smiled at her. "Better..."

Yuka once again struggled to her feet and raised her blade. She resolved that she would hit him eventually, and charged forward again.

.o0o.

Finding the right pair of shoes for her outfit didn't take anywhere near as much time as Chika dreaded it would. Even so, the time she was supposed to meat Ikuto and Takeru was fast approaching, and her heart was beating against her chest almost as much as it did when Kurata had her on that operating table...

She shook her head. This was stupid. She was acting more like a nervous schoolgirl than she did back when she was a nervous schoolgirl. Chika sighed and looked around her clean and spartan apartment. Piyomon was staring at her, looking really worried.

"You look nice," he said.

"Thank you," Chika answered, giving him a weak smile. After a few moments she walked over to the nearby plain beige couch and sat down, letting out a sigh. "I'm and idiot..."

Piyomon walked over to her, a worried look on his face. "Why do you say that?"

Chika turned away from him, her eyes focusing on the couch cushions instead. "I'm going out with the guy I cheated on and the guy I cheated on him with. How much more stupid could I get?"

"Chika..."

Chika sighed. "Never mind Piyomon. It's too late to back out anyway."

"Well, maybe this is a good thing," Piyomon suggested. "You can finally put it behind you now."

Chika snorted at that. "Right, I can put being a selfish little slut behind me."

"Chika! Stop saying things like that!"

She turned back to look at him. "But it's the truth!"

And that was when the wing lightly hit her in the face.

Chika just stared at Piyomon for a moment. Where he hit her, stung. It stung a lot.

Piyomon had never done anything like that before.

"I hate this!" the bird digimon shouted at her. "I hate seeing you beat yourself over one little mistake you made years ago!"

Chika's eyes narrowed at that. "Piyomon..." How could he call that a little mistake!?

"Takeru and Ikuto both understand how much you went through back then! You were hurting and every hormone in your body was completely out of whack since you were turned into a bio-hybrid!"

"Stop making excuses for me!" Chika shouted, standing up. "Why doesn't anyone see that I've done things that are wrong! I took away Relena's father! I screwed Ikuto to try to make myself feel better while calling it love, then cheated on him with Takeru!"

"Chika, it's not as bad as you try to paint it!" Piyomon shouted. "You thought Franz gave you to Kurata for experimentation and attacked him while trying to escape!"

Before anything else could be said, there was a knock at the door. Takeru and Ikuto were here.

Chika took a deep breath. It was time. "I'll see you later, okay?" she asked, walking over to grab her purse off the counter and went over to the door. She took a deep breath... and slowly grabbed the doorknob and opened it. Takeru and Ikuto were standing behind it, but Chika already knew that.

They looked over at her, both of their smiles quickly turning to frowns. "What happened Chika?" Ikuto asked, and before Chika knew it, she was pulled into a hug.

She blushed. "... It's nothing Ikuto-kun..." That didn't stop his hand from going to the side of her face though. His hand was being so gentle...

"You were crying," Takeru pointed out.

Chika turned her head to look at him, moving her head away from Ikuto's hand. "I was?"

Ikuto nodded and pulled away from her.

Chika shook her head. "Sorry, I was just a little upset..."

"You want to talk about it?" Takeru asked,

Chika frowned and looked over at him. Takeru already knew what was wrong with her, she had blurted it out at that bar last night! ... And now Chika felt a lot worse about the upcoming evening.

"You sure you're okay?" Ikuto asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. It felt nice, like Takeru's hand did when it went there last night...

... wait? Did Ikuto know? No, he couldn't...

Chika just nodded. "Yeah, I"m fine, really?"

Ikuto gave her a long look. Chika could tell that he didn't believe her, but he didn't say anything as he pulled his hand away. Either way though, he could tell that something was wrong with her, and that bothered her. A lot.

Takeru smiled over at the two of them. "We're going to be late," he said in a way that made Chika feel like a lovestruck schoolgirl who was going on her first date.

Ikuto blushed and smiled at at Takeru. "Right."

Chika blinked. "Where are we going?" she asked as they started walking. After all, she hadn't thought to ask about that when Ikuto invited her, which was kinda stupid.

Ikuto and Takeru both turned to look at her again. "We're going to eat at Katou-san's with some others."

Chika blinked. She didn't realize that there would be other people with them tonight... but it made sense. After all, the three of them weren't as close as they used to be. She also felt a lot better about it now. If she was with a group... well, it would keep her mind off certain things.

"Chika-chan?" Takeru asked, and Chika realized she was lagging behind.

"Sorry..." she said meekly, quickly heading to catch up to the two of them. It didn't take them long to get restaurant on foot. But it was then that Chika remembered that this place was a pub.

"Takeru-san, Ikuto-kun! Welcome!" a perky waitress said as the three of them walked through the door. The blonde haired girl blinked as she saw Chika. "You two brought a lady friend?" she asked, clearly baffled as if this didn't happen ever.

"We're meeting some others here Ayaka," Ikuto said, blushing. "Is Daisuke here yet?"

Ayaka nodded, still blushing and looking between the three of them. "He, Hikari, and Shuichon-chan are at the usual table." The woman looked and stared at Chika again. "Hey! You're Daimon Chika!"

Chika blushed and noticed that almost everyone at the tables were staring at her. She blushed. "Yeah, I am."

Ayaka turned to glare at Ikuto and Takeru. "Why didn't you say you knew here!?"

Takeru sighed. "I don't like using friend's fame for my own benefit."

"Anyway, thanks Ayaka!" Ikuto said, quickly grabbing both Takeru and Chika's arms and leading them towards a table in the corner of the room, where three people were waiting.

"Dang Takeru! When you said you and Ikuto were bringing someone else you could've mentioned who she was!" The only man of the group said. Chika was pretty sure he was Daisuke.

One of the woman, a brunette wearing a light pink dress was glaring at him. "Stop being a jerk, Daisuke-kun." She then turned to Chika and smiled. "Sorry about my boyfriend. I"m Yagami Hikari."

Chika smiled and sat down in a nearby seat. "Nice to meet you," she said, turning to the other woman sitting at their table. "You're Shuichon-san, right?"

The girl nodded. "Yep."

"Aren't you kinda young to be here?" Chika asked.

Shuichon pouted. "As long as I don't drink it's fine. I wish people would stop asking me that!"

Takeru just laughed. "You are underage Shuichon-chan."

Shuichon just turned the target of her pouting to Takeru.

Ikuto shook his head. "How've you guys been?" he asked.

Hikari smiled. "I've been fine. My students are doing okay this year."

Takeru smiled at her and for some reason Chika felt a stabbing pain in her chest. That was stupid. She wasn't with Takeru and Hikari had a boyfriend anyway.

"Glad to hear it. Pretty soon you'll be a full teacher!" Takeru said.

Hikari blushed. "I still have a few more years of school to go before that Takeru-kun."

"He's still right though!" Daisuke said, wrapping his arm around Hikari. "You'll get there soon. Me? I'm going to be part of the bases defense force forever."

Shuichon glared at him. "Are you really that upset with the job!"

Ikuto laughed and Daisuke sighed. "I just want to get in some action off base like Ikuto and Chika here."

"It's not as glamorous as you think," Chika said, looking down at her hands.'

"Chika-chan..." Takeru said, then shook his head.

"She's right. Missions off base involve a lot more work and are dangerous," Ikuto said.

Daisuke groaned. "Is it that bad that V-mon and I want some action in our lives?"

"What, I don't give you enough?" Hikari asked in a mock-hurt tone.

Daisuke blushed. "I didn't mean it like that Hikari-chan!"

Hikari just burst out laughing, before poking her boyfriend in the arm. "Then don't say things like that."

Daisuke sighed, and the conversation changed to more pleasant and mundane things as the waiter came to take their orders.

And for the first time in a long time, Chika didn't think about her problems and enjoyed herself.


	22. Awkwardness

Chika smiled and snuggled against the large comfy pillow that her head happened to be resting on. She felt happy and safe and comfy and didn't want to wake up ever. After all, how she was feeling now? She wasn't plagued by how she had acted before, and she really wanted to not feel that way for as long as possible. Nuzzling this rising and falling comfy pillow she had was a much better prospect at the moment...

...

...

Before Chika could think about that further she felt something else press against her back and slip around her waist. Her eyes opened and she realized three things. She wasn't in her room. She had a pounding headache now... she probably got drunk last night.

Oh, and she was in bed with both Ikuto AND Takeru.

...

Chika realized at that moment that it probably would've been a good idea to refuse that alcohol. Now her problems were just going to get worse. She felt one of their hands slip against the skin of her stomach, and realized that she was both still wearing her dress and undergarments. Well, even though this was still awkward, at least she didn't have sex with the two of them. She let out a sigh of relief and leaned her head back on Takeru's chest. She looked up at his face.

He was still asleep and smiling happily.

Chika sighed What was she going to do? They couldn't stay like this... but it felt so right. She felt Ikuto stir against her back and his hands slipped away from her stomach. "Morning Chika."

Chika blushed as she felt Ikuto's arms warp around her waist again. "Morning Ikuto-kun?"

"How are you feeling?" Ikuto asked, tightening his arms around her.

Chika sighed. "Really good," she admitted.

"That's nice," Takeru said, his eyes opening.

Chika blushed.

Ikuto chuckled. "You're late," he teased.

"Oh, terribly sorry. Not used to have such attractive people in bed with me," Takeru countered.

Chika's' face started to burn. "Takeru-kun, we didn't..."

Takeru and Ikuto both laughed at that, Takeru moving his hand and stroking the side of Chika's face. "Oh, I know," he admitted. "We were all drunk last night, but we still didn't want to do something you'd regret."

Chika's eyes widened, her head suddenly turning around to look at Ikuto. The way that Takeru said that... it...

Ikuto flashed her a smile. "It's okay."

Chika's eyes widened. "You know I.."

Ikuto nodded.

Chika felt tears start to form in her eyes and her stomach seemed like it was trying to eat itself. "Then how can you even stand me and Takeru. I.... I.."

Ikuto pressed his lips against hers before she could break down crying. Her eyes widened and she soon found herself kissing him back, melting into his embrace.

And then she felt another pair of lips on her neck and she gasped into Ikuto's mouth. That... felt good. Ikuto's lips against hers... Takeru's against her neck... Ikuto pulled away a moment before Takeru did, and Chika let out a confused gasp. Why were they both? "...uh?" she let out... not really able to say what she was thinking.

Ikuto sighed, and pulled Chika closer to him, his hand now running through her hair. "Why?" she asked him. She felt like a little kid who hadn't been in school at all being asked to do calculus. Why were they?

"Chika..." Ikuto trailed off, looking a little awkward as he looked at her.

Takeru wrapped his arms around her waist also, pressing his body against her in another hug.

"I love you," both of them said at the same time.

Chika blinked. "You guys what?" She shook her head. "But then why aren't you fighting over me and upset with what happened before?" This was just more confusing.

Takeru laughed. "You're not the only one who can be torn between two people."

What the heck? Chika just blinked at them.

Takeru sighed. "You up for a demonstration Ikuto?"

Chika looked over at Ikuto, who was smiling. "Sure."

And before Chika knew it, the two men were pressed against her tighter and kissing over her. She looked on it shock as she saw the two of them kissing just as passionately as Ikuto had been kissing her earlier... and did he slip his tongue into Takeru's mouth?

After a little bit, the two of them broke away and looked back over at her.

Chika was speechless, looking between the two of them and deciding she was still asleep, hangover headache be damned. Finally she figured out what to say. "You two? Me? Wha?"

.. Okay, so she really had no idea.

Ikuto and Takeru both laughed and hugged her, giving her a little time to actually think. That took a little while. Seeing something she usually only saw in some of the yaoi manga she had read a as teenager kinda made it hard for her to think. "You guys are together?"

Ikuto laughed. "Sorta. Kinda... occasionally."

Takeru's hand slipped over her side, rubbing the skin that her dress exposed. It felt nice, but right now she wished that he'd just give her answers. "Well, it mostly didn't feel right the few times we tried. You weren't with us."

Chika blinked. That seemed strangely familiar to what she felt after she and Ikuto had been together after Kurata had made her a bio-hybrid. The sex was good, but something about it seemed odd. Same with the little amount of fooling around she ended up doing with Takeru before her brain caught up with her and she bolted. Both had been good but off somehow... unlike what had just happened earlier.

Chika's eyes widened when she realized what her two friends were getting at. "You two want a threesome!?" she blurted out, her cheeks on fire now.

Ikuto laughed and blushed. "More than that," he clarified.

Chika didn't know what to say. On one hand, she wanted, and had been with both of them already... kinda...

But was it really fair to them? But they wanted each other also, so it wasn't like they were doing this just so she wouldn't have to choose or feel bad about it or something. "I... can... we... no, I can't." Chika said. "Not yet, I don't want to jump into something like this too fast. I don't even know what I really want."

Takeru tightened his hold on her waist. "Of course we can wait," he said. "We've waited half a decade already." And with that, he pulled away and got out of bed.

Ikuto smiled and kissed her on the cheek before moving out of the bed as well.

And that's when Chika noticed that while she was still wearing her dress, they were both shirtless. And her heart seemed to plummet into her stomach.

So much for being happy.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom-Magnum

Chapter 22: Awkwardness

.o0o.

"Tsukaimon, wake up!" Yuka shouted, trying to shake her sleeping partner awake. No luck. Tsukaimon just yawned and clamped onto her arm with his legs, sleeping away. "Tsukaimon!" she shouted again, shaking her arm to try to wake up the digimon. It wasn't working. "We're going to be late for our first training session with our group for our test!"

Tsukaimon just kept snoring and snuggling against her arm.

Yuka sighed and got out of her bed, heading over to the dresser to grab her digivice. She quickly pressed a button and Tsukaimon was sucked inside it, still asleep.

Yuka sighed and quickly got dressed before heading down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Her mother was already cooking some eggs. Yuka smiled, glad that Agumon wasn't here, otherwise she wouldn't get food.

"Good morning sleepyheads." Her mother greeted, but Yuka could tell her mother didn't really mean it. Well, okay, that was probably harsh, but her mother was still a little upset with the fact that Yuka was finally going to become a DATS agent soon. At least... as long as she passed the test anyway.

"You okay Mama?" Yuka asked.

"Yeah, I"m fine." Her mother answered, moving the eggs onto a plate and putting in on the table. "Where's Tsukaimon?"

At that, Tsukaimon's voice suddenly burst out of the digivice. "YUKA!!!! LET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"

Yuka giggled and quickly pressed the button to let her partner out of the digivice. He really looked annoyed with her. "Why did you do that?"

"You were glomping my arm in your sleep and I needed to get ready," Yuka answered, smirking.

"You could've woken me up!" Tsukaimon shouted as he flapped over to the table.

Yuka sighed as her mother put another plate down on the table. "Shut up and eat before we go and meet the other two in our unit."

Tsukaimon sighed, before attacking his share of eggs like he was Agumon.

Yuka giggled before her attacking her eggs in the same manner as her partner.

Her mother just looked at the two of them and shook her head.

.o0o.

Chika felt both elated and confused as she walked through the aisles in the shop, looking for any supplies that she might need for her upcoming mission. She could probably use a few new kunai to replace the ones she had lost recently. Then there was the matter of her cape... if she even wanted a new one. Capes did look awesome, but there were some downsides to them as well...

Then again, if she was in a standard female DATS Uniform, she'd definitely end up distracting Ikuto and Takeru now...

Okay, finding new pants for her uniform and a cape was a definite plan.

"Chika-chan?" someone familiar said from behind her.

Chika spun around with a smile seeing Miki and Megumi standing behind her. "Hey!"

"Are you alright?" Megumi asked.

Chika nodded at that. "Yeah, I'm actually, really, really good! Why do you ask?"

"It's just... well... you seem..." Megumi didn't seem to be able to figure out what to say.

Chika looked at her. "Something wrong?""

"It's just, you seem happy,"" Megumi said finally.

Chika blinked. That wasn't something that people were supposed to thing something was wrong about. Did she really suck at hiding her emotions the last five years that much?

Miki smirked. "Our little Chika-chan finally became a woman, didn't she?"

Chika let out a startled gasp and blushed. She forgot how blunt the older woman could be sometimes. "No!" At least..well, nothing happened recently.

Megumi blinked, and then smirked. "Oh! Who's the lucky guy? Or lucky girl?"

Chika blushed and tried to shrink away from the two of them. "I... we're not together. We're taking it slow, just staying friends for now."

Megumi smiled. "But you're still happy! You two must've done something!"

Chika felt like she could've cooked Agumon his eggs on her face right now. "We... umm... made out. And why do you two care. Don't you have someone closer to your own age to bug about this?"

Miki laughed. "But' it's fun to tease the innocent virgin who's holding out for true love."

Chika gasped. Maybe if she told the two woman the truth they'd stop it. She knew that if they continued at this rate, the fact she well, seriously considered saying yes to Takeru and Ikuto back in that bed...

She prayed she wasn't making a mistake. "I'm... not."

Miki and Megumi looked at her, both their eyes blinking.

Finally, Megumi ran up to her and put her hands on Chika's shoulders. "When did that change!? When!?"

So much for that plan. "Umm... five years ago."

Miki looked at her and sighed. "Okay Megumi, stop bugging the traumatized girl."

Megumi blinked and turned to Miki. "What do you mean?" She asked, letting go of Chika's shoulders.

Chika bolted and headed to the counter to buy her replacement things. Hopefully she could get to a tailor without be cornered by them again.

Chika also hoped that rumors didn't start. She knew how Miki and Megumi could get sometimes..

... okay, all the time.

... She was so screwed.


	23. The Beginning of Something Great?

Yuka and Tsukaimon somehow managed to make it to where they were supposed to meet their team on time. But...

"Where is everybody?" Tsukaimon asked, hovering in the air next to Yuka. This forest area training ground seemed to be completely deserted.

Yuka shrugged. She guessed these Ai and Makoto kids were lazy or something. Otherwise they would've been here... but wait... "Where's Takaishi-sensei?" she asked, more to herself than Tsukaimon. Two people she had never met being late she could understand, but she doubted that her teacher would be, he was never like that.

"So, you actually made it on time," a voice that definite was not Takaishi-sensei said instead of an answer.

Yuka wondered if she still had any blood left in her body, it sure didn't feel like it with how cold it suddenly seemed to be. The young girl turned around, her eyes widened as she saw Makino-sensei standing behind her, an evil grin on her face. "Hi... Makino-sensei," Yuka stuttered out slowly, shivering. "Where's Takaishi-sensei?"

Makno laughed. "Sorry, but he needs to prepare for a mission, so your team's going to have to deal with me."

Tsukaimon let out a gasp and Yuka glared at him. The last thing they needed was him saying something that pissed this teacher off. That would just make things much worse than they already were.

"Ruki-san!" a girl shouted. Yuka and Makino-sensei both turned to the voice. Two people were running towards them. Yuka thought they were both a little older than her, but not by much really. At the oldest they were around Relena's age... and the similar shades of brown hair and their similar faces made it really clear that they were siblings. Either born really close together or even twins.

"Sorry we're late!" The boy said, panting as the two of them stopped in front of them.

Yuka looked over the two of them. God, even their uniforms matched in color, dark blue and red.

Makino-sensei just sighed. "It's fine kids, but don't call me Ruki."

The boy and girl both gulped in unison. "Right Makino-sensei!"

These two were obviously Ai and Makoto.

"Alright, now that you're all here it's time to give you your first training mission," Makino-sensai began, pulling out a blue digivice. "Renamon! Realize!"

With a burst of light, Makinio-sensei's bipedal fox partner appeared, and Makino-sensei just smirked. "Your mission is simple," blue digisoul flared around Makino-sensei's entire body and she quickly slammed her hand down on the top of her digivice.

The Renamon glowed brightly, and in moments she was a much larger humanoid fox wearing Buddhist priest robes. "Is to hit my partner."

Tsukaimom's eyes widened in shock. "No way! You can't be serious!"

Makino-sensei's smirk just got more sinister looking. "Begin!"

And with that, Taomon attacked them.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: CustomMagnum

Chapter 23: The Start of Something Grand?

.o0o.

Chika made it back to her apartment, grateful that she had managed to somehow get everything without too much of an incident after leaving Miki and Megumi. "I'm home Piyomon!" she called out. She really needed to apologize to her partner... he had been right about what he said... even if she had refused what Takeru and Ikuto wanted. She frowned... he didn't answer. She just walked deeper into the apartment, and she smiled when she saw why.

Piyomon was sleeping soundly on the couch. It was like he hadn't moved from there since last night.

Chika moved and placed her shopping bags on the counter before heading back to the couch and laying down on it behind Piyomon, taking a deep breath. She then wrapped her arms around her partner's stomach.

Piyomon looked like he smiled in his sleep, his wing slipping down on top of her hand.

Chika giggled softly and closed her eyes. She wanted to make sure that her partner was near her when he awoke. But as it turned out... she feel asleep before he woke up. And her dreams were nice, for once.

.o0o.

"Our teacher is nuts!" Tsukaimon shouted as the four of them ducked into the forest to avoid Taomon's attacks.

Yuka couldn't help but agree. DATS trainees in general weren't supposed to be capable of perfect! The fact that she and Tsukaimon could didn't matter, this was way too unbalanced a match! Even if she evolved Tsukaimon to Metal Greymon, Taomon was still much more experienced than they were!

Although...

"Ai, Mako!" Yuka began. The two other trainees turned to look at her.

"My name's Makoto!" The boy shouted, glaring at him.

Ai sighed. "Worry about that later Mako-chan!"

Makoto just growled at his sister, but he didn't say anything else about it. Good, that would make things a little bit easier, working with these people she just met.

"What levels can your partner's evolve to?" Yuka asked.

"Adult!" both siblings answered at once.

Yuka swore. That meant she and Tsukaimon were going to have to be the main fighters. They were the only one's who had anything resembling a chance. "Okay, realize them and evolve." She ordered. "Tsukaimon and I are going to need help while fighting her..."

.o0o.

Ruki sighed, her arms crossed in front of her chest. It had been over fifteen minutes already. Maybe they had run away for real and not to plan like she had thought they would. "Looks like we're going to have to go after them," she commented.

Taomon just stared into the forest. "Wait..."

Ruki smiled. Looked like her little students had a plan after all...

Metal Greymon burst through the forest, charging forward as his missile launchers opened. "Giga Destroyer!" he shouted, firing off two missiles at Taomon.

Ruki sighed as Taomon threw up a shield to block them. The missiles just exploded harmlessly on it. Taomon formed a large calligraphy brush and drew a seal in the air... which sped forward as a beam towards the cyborg dinosaur.

Really, Yuka had to know that her file had been updated and that they would've been expecting this. Not only that, but her Tsukaimon was still new to using that form. The girl really shouldn't have expected it to have any chance of working...

Metal Greymon vanished as the beam hit him.

Ruki just blinked at that. How interesting...

And then a dozen Metal Greymon's appeared out of the forest, hungry for blood from the sounds of he was making. Which... didn't really fit Yuka's Tsukaimon... but whatever.

Now... to see what they were actually planning...

.o0o.

Yuka looked over at Taomon's battle from her perch in a tree. "How's Wizarmon holding up?" she asked, looking down at Makoto and his partner, both of whom were near her. The Wizarmon had a look of concentration on his face, energy flaring around his body, silently chanting his illusion spells.

"He'll do fine for now!" Makoto answered, kneeling down and placing a black digisoul covered hand on his partner's shoulder. "We have five minutes before we'll be unable to keep this up."

Yuka nodded. "Okay Devidramon, it's your turn!"

.o0o.

Ruki knew that Taomon was starting to get annoyed with the constant illusions that were attacking her. Which ever one of the twin's wizards that was doing the spells seemed to be good at it, but they couldn't last forever though. Ruki knew that Yuka would probably be attacking soon, she doubted that the girl could hold out long enough to avoid running into the open. Whether she'd prove herself to be like Masaru in what she was capable of was anyone's guess though...

Yuka's Devidramon suddenly burst through the trees. His nails were glowing red as he flew over towards Taomon and slashed down at her partner.

Taomon effortlessly blocked the attack, a shield of light forming around her body.

Devidramon let out a growl and continued to push against the shield, and his eyes started glowing red.

Ruki frowned. Why would Yuka send her partner out as an adult when she could have him evolve to perfect...

.o0o.

Yuka let out a smirk, her digisoul burning brightly around her body as she quickly slammed her hand down on her digivice. "Digisoul Charge!"

.o0o.

Ruki and Taomon both realized what the plan was before Devidramon started glowing... the viral dragon quickly evolved into Metal Greymon and his robotic claw crashed through Taomon's shield.

Taomon quickly dodged to the side, Metal Greymon's attack narrowly missing her. The cyborg dragon growled and quickly opened up his chest launchers. "Giga Destroyer!" he shouted, firing two missiles at point blank range towards the other perfect.

Taomon threw up her strongest shield, the missiles collided with it and sending her flying back. Flying back yes, but both unharmed and unscratched, the shield stilll fully formed.

.o0o.

Yuka looked back down at Makoto and Wizarmon. "Get back to the illusions!"

"Who the hell made you the leader anyway?!" Wizarmon grumbled, even as he did what Yuka ordered.

"How long do we have now!?" Yuka asked.

Makoto shook his head. "Two minutes tops. Even if we had Ai and Witchmon's help at this point, that would only really boost it up to another five."

Yuka nodded. "Two minutes should be plenty."

It was now or never...

.o0o.

Ruki chuckled as she watched all the Metal Greymon illusions charger towards Taomon and swipe at her. Taomon didn't even move as she created a small shield to block the real Metal Greymon's attack, while the other claws went right through her, doing absolutely nothing. But this wasn't good, at least if this was a real fight. Taomon was tiring... usually she'd complete a full shield even if she knew that most of them were illusions and knew which one was real. Just in case of anything decided to take advantage of her opening. But Meta Greymon's missile attack had taken more out of her partner than Taomon was probably willing to admit. It was impressive, and Ruki really needed to figure out who's plan it was.

Commander Satsuma wanted this team to pass, for all of his talk of giving everyone an equal shot. While the other teams did have private tutors, these three got HER. Ruki was glad that DATS was an organization that wouldn't make it easy for preferred agents to pass. They wanted to be agents. The leaders wanted them to be agents. The kids? They were either going to become the best damn newbies since Daimon Chika, or they were going to quit.

.o0o.

Ai looked on at the battle from where she was sitting in a tree opposite from Yuka. Witchmon floated on her broom beside her, looking worried and trying to stay hidden. "You sure about this?" the witch digimon asked.

Ai closed her eyes for a moment, her pink digisoul coming to life in her fist. "It's now or never. We need to see if Yuka's plan is going to work."

Witchmon nodded, and Ai quickly moved to sit on the broom with her partner. "You remember what to do Witchmon?"

"Yeah."

Taomon blocked Metal Greymon's attack, her shield only covering part of her body.

The front of her body.

Bingo.

Witchmon flew forward , and Ai hoped that Yuka picked the right person for this.

.o0o.

Ruki almost didn't believe it when she saw Witchmon fly out from the forest on the other side of the clearing that Metal Greymon and Taomon's little fight was taking place in. And Ai was on the broom with her as well, looking a little unsteady.

What happened next was so... _IYuka/i_ that Ruki no longer had any doubt of who came up with the plan.

Witchmon teleported Ai a little farther into the air, and she began dropping towards Taomon's unprotected back.

.o0o.

Ai's blood roared through her body as she pulled her fist back. She was going to do this... they were going to do it!

She thrust her arm forward... then she panicked, that Taomon was probably going to just turn around and hit her and she would hurt and hurt lots and...

.o0o.

Ruki watched as Ai panicked and threw her fist towards Taomon...

And hit her partner in the back, sending the perfect digimon stumbling forward, the pink digisoul glowing around Ai's fist.

.o0o.

Yuka let out a cry of victory, leaping down from her perch on the tree. She looked over at Makoto and his partner, who had devolved back into Impmon. She smiled at them. "Good job!"

.o0o.

Witchmon teleported below her partner as Metal Greymon let out a sigh of relief before devolving to Tsukaimon.

Ai couldn't believe that it had actually worked. They did it! They had managed to actually hit Taomon!

Witchmon caught Ai in her arms and Ai let out a sigh of relief.

"Nice job Ai!" Yuka shouted, she, Makoto, and his Impmon running over to them.

Ai just giggled and let out a wide smile.

.o0o.

Yuka ran over to Ai and the others, Tsukaimon devolving and flying into her arms.

"We did it!" Tsukaimon shouted, nuzzling a bit against her chest.

Yuka smiled and pet her partner on the head. Tsukaimon just let out a small giggle and closed his eyes. She turned her attention back to Ai and Makoto, seeing both of them hugging. "Good job guys!"

Witchmon moved over to them. "I didn't really do much."

Makoto and Ai broke away from each other. "Sure you did!" Ai said. "I couldn't have hit her without you!"

Yuka smiled. "It wouldn't have worked without all of us."

Witchmon blushed. "Thanks..." she then devolved into a pink Impmon.

Makoto's purple Impmon sighed. "I bet Makoto and I could've done it on our own."

Makoto sighed and shook his head. "Impmon..."

Tsukaimon giggled at that. "Good luck next time. I'd love to see an adult beat a perfect one-on-one."

Impmon glared at Tsukaimon. "Why you damn batpig!"

"Enough!" Makino-sensei shouted. "You guys may have cleared your first training mission, but all that means is that I get to make the next one even harder!" She then smirked, her evil smirk that Yuka had learned to hate oh so much, a digivice grasped in her hands.

Yuka realized just as Makino-sensei slammed her hand down on the device, the digisoul flashing white, that they were screwed. So screwed. Completely and utterly screwed.

Taomon evolved into the sexy looking Sakuyamon.

Makino-sensei's smirk only got more evil. "Now, do it again."


	24. Prelude to

Yuka still couldn't believe that Chika, Ikuto, and Takaishi-sensei were going out on a mission together. Takashi-sensei was supposed to be her teacher, and now they were stuck with the horrible horrible Makino-sensei for everything! Also, for some odd reason Chika, Ikuto-nii, and Takaishi-sensei were giving each other odd looks, and it was weird. It kinda reminded her of how Masaru-niisan and Yoshino-neechan looked at each other sometimes... but that couldn't be it. That would just be...

Either way, it was probably a good idea for her to get back to her pizza, since it was the last night before they had to leave. Ikuto-nii had taken all of them out for pizza tonight. Both the humans and the digimon alike were sitting at a large table.

"But why do you have to leave us with Makino-sensei!?" Tsukaimon exclaimed, keeping his face out of his food for a moment. "She's nuts and makes us fight against her Renamon's Perfect and Ultimate forms! I'm still hurting from that!"

Takaishi-sensei and Patamon laughed. "Sounds just like her!" Patamon commented before taking a bite out of pizza.

Yuka just stared at her teacher's partner.

"Don't worry about it Yuka. Ruki might be strict, but under her you're going to have the best chances of passing the test," Takaishi-sensei said. "Especially with the amount of time you have left."

Chika-neechan and Ikuto-nii didn't really look too happy about that. Why did everyone she know not want her to become a DATS Agent? Most of them were DATS Agents!

Falcomon sighed. "You really are in good hands Yuka. When you pass I'll have to get you some new Kunai."

Chika glared at Falcomon and Yuka saw her brother wrap an arm around her waist. Chika blushed and moved his arm away and Ikuto-nii frowned.

Oh well, at least someone seemed to be supporting her.

Piyomon swallowed a bite of his food, then turned to look at her. "Good luck on your test if we don't make it back in time."

Yuka frowned. Why did the three of them have to go on mission now? "Oh, don't worry, I'll pass." She said, with a confidence that she really would've only felt if her older sibling and sibling figures actually supported her. "Anyway, good luck on the mission."

Chika smiled. "Thank you Yuka."

Yuka looked own at her plate. "Do you guys think Relena's going to be okay?" she asked.

Ikuto sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure Yuka. We don't even know where she is right now."

Yuka didn't say anything for a moment. "I see. What if she attacks you guys? Is she..." She couldn't even bring herself to ask it. How do you ask your siblings if they were going to kill a friend of yours? ... Although Relena wasn't really a friend, it was still hard to ask.

"Don't even think about asking something like that!" Chika shouted. Yuka didn't know she was being that obvious, but at least she had an answer now. "I won't let that happen no matter what, and neither will Touma."

Yuka smiled. "Thank you," she said in a small voice.

Before she knew it, she suddenly had Tsukaimon on top of her and licking her face. "Tsukaimon!" Yuka shouted with a giggle. "Stop that!"

Tsukaimon smiled at that. "I don't like you all mopey!"

Yuka just stared at him for a moment before the small digimon licked the side of her face again.

Everyone laughed, and for a moment Yuka forgot about what she had just thought.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom_Magnum

Chapter 24: Prelude to...

.o0o.

Chika sighed as the three of them put their bags on the floor of the private cabin on the transport ship. Chika didn't know who set this up, but once she found out? There was going to be hell to pay.

... Okay, so no, there wasn't. It was a pretty nice cabin, if a little spartan. But still, she'd be sharing it with Takeru and Ikuto. After what had happened between them already, she didn't know if she could handle it.

Or rather, she didn't know if she could say no this time if the three of them got a little too close. What they had asked about before? She was really tempted to go along with it, she still was. But that... no... she...

Chika shook her head and noticed that Patamon, Falcomon, and Piyomon were out of cabin now, and Ikuto and Takeru were sitting on a nearby couch, both of them having a can of coke in their hands. Chika looked down at the bottom of the couch and noticed that there was a mini-fridge there. She took a deep breath and walked over to it, taking out a can of soda herself before moving over to the couch and sitting in between the two of them. "So... it's back to Yokohoma again. While I was just there... it's different this time. We're not going to be hiding who we are."

Takeru and Ikuto looked over at her worriedly. "Are you alright Chika-chan?" Takeru asked.

Chika nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She opened the can and took a small sip. "It's just, besides that small amount of time with Yuka and Relena to get to File Island, the last time we were at Yokohoma was when we were kicked out due to the Nightmare Soldiers' attack."

Ikuto and Takeru both moved closer to her and soon each of them had one arm wrapped around her waist. "Takeru-kun! Ikuto-kun! I... thanks..." It made her feel a little bit better.

"It's okay," Ikuto said, placing his drink on the top of the fridge, and soon Chika and Takeru's joined his. "I don't like remembering that either. Anywhere near that time..."

Takeru nodded. "The only good thing I could even think of happening back then was when Chika and I met Yuma..."

Chika's eyes widened at that and she... well, made sure to try to not cry. She wasn't friends with the other girl at first, jealous of her like hell actually. When Chika had first met Yuma, she was kinda obviously trying to get Ikuto's attention romantically and Chika hated that. Of course, that's probably how it felt to Ikuto with her interactions with Takeru. She sighed. "How did you two even decided you guys wanted me and each other in the first place? I mean... Ikuto was jealous of you at first, just like I was of Yuma... and..."

Takeru smirked. "Oh, well, we first realized that we were bi that time we took that vacation to Okinawa before..." He said, his smirk fading into a frown as he stopped speaking.

Chika sighed. That vacation. Right before she had been captured by Kurata and turned into a bio-hybrid. Well, other than it being right before then, that was kinda fun. Getting Takeru and Ikuto into itty-bitty speedos by bribing them with her in a skimpy bikini was a memory that she would never forget, ever. "I see... that was kinda fun actually."

Ikuto giggled at that. "Well, both of us being so eager to do that kinda tipped us off to that."

Chika blushed. So basically the whole threesome idea was entirely her fault... and for some reason she felt happy about that. But still, it probably wasn't fair to them to do that because she couldn't figure out who she loved more. It was wrong... wasn't it?

Chika felt both of the boys press their bodies closer to her and soon she was in the middle of a hug between both of them. "Guys!"

"What?" Takeru asked, his mouth close to her ear. "We're just giving you a hug because you're upset."

Chika shivered at that. "No you're not!" she said. "You're trying to tempt me!"

Ikuto smirked. "Is it working?"

Chika pouted. "No!" Actually, yes, but they really didn't need to know that. She didn't want to make things worse for them than they really already were.

Takeru chuckled and pulled away. "Well, if you say so."

Chika pouted at him. "Yes, I say so!" She shouted... before she burst into giggles as well. "Sorry, sorry... It's just... I'm not really sure what I want right now, you know?"

Ikuto nodded. "We understand, right Takeru?"

Takeru nodded and got off the couch. "Yeah. I do. More than you two know." He paused for a moment. "Sorry, I'm going to go get some fresh air." And with that, Takeru left the room.

Chika stared where he was a moment ago before turning back to Ikuto. "What the... Ikuto, do you know what's wrong with him?"

Ikuto shook his head. "I have no idea."

Chika frowned and got to her feet. "Come on, we have to follow him and see what's wrong." And with that she ran out of the door.

.o0o.

Yuka took a deep breath, her eyes shut closed. It had been only a few hours since Chika and Ikuto had left, and she was already missing them. She had no idea why it should feel still feel this way, it wasn't like the two of them hadn't gone on missions and left her behind before...

There was a blast of lightning shooting towards her, she could feel it. Yuka's eyes snapped open and she jumped back, the blast crashing harmlessly in front of her. She glared in the direction the lightning had come from.

"Now isn't the time to day dream Yuka-chan!" Makoto teased, Wizarmon standing next to him with his staff pointed in her direction.

Yuka glared again and clenched her fist. At the same time Devidramon charged down from the sky and slammed into Wizarmon, knocking him over. Makoto seemed to actually be shocked at that. "You're not the who can have their partner sneak attack," she taunted.

Makoto grinned. "Go on Wizarmon! Show that dragon who's stronger!"

"You got it!" Wizarmon shouted, blasting Devidramon in the face with a blast of lightning.

Devidramon roared and dodged the blast as his eyes began to glow red. "Red Eye!" he shouted, four beams of energy shooting out of his eyes at Wizarmon, who just blocked them with a magic shield.

Yuka just looked over at Makoto and grinned. She saw him blink at her... and then she charged at him, resisting the urge to giggle at his shocked reaction. She pulled her fist back and as soon as she got in range she threw her first forward...

... Only for Makoto to frantically jump back, looking over at Yuka in shock."What the hell are you doing!?"

This time Yuka did laugh. "Are we going to let our partner's have all the fun?"

Makoto just stared at her. "But you're a girl! I can't hit you!"

Yuka just stared at Makoto for a moment, before running over to him and punching him in the stomach. With digisoul flared around her fist.

Makoto doubled over and let out a gasp. "What..."

"It serves you right Mako-chan!" Ai taunted, walking closer to the two of them.

Yuka was surprised. She didn't even realize that Ai was there at all. She turned to the older girl and pulled her fist out of Makoto's gut. "Hey Ai! How are you?" she asked with a smile.

Ai smiled back. "I'm fine! Thanks for showing Mako-chan why he's an idiot."

Yuka giggled. "No problem." She was about to ask the other girl if she wanted to join in the brawl... except it was at that moment that she realized Ai was wearing a pretty looking dress. It seemed to hug the girl's body, and for some reason Yuka couldn't think of anything to say seeing her in it.

Ai just giggled, while Makoto looked between both Ai and Yuka. "What...?"

Yuka shook her head, her brain starting to work again. "Why are you in that?"

Ai giggled again. "It's a day off for us silly. I can't believe you two actually want to fight today, even if Mako-chan needed to have something pointed out for him."

Yuka blushed. "I like it."

"The dress or the fighting?" Ai asked.

Yuka blushed even more. "Both," she said... almost not realizing what she said.

Ai smiled and moved closer to Yuka. "Well, maybe you should take a break from fighting for the day."

Wizarmon and Devidramon blasted each other with their attacks, both of which canceled each other out. The two digimon seemed to be ignoring the conversation going on around them... if they had even heard it in the first place.

Yuka pouted. "But I like fighting!"

Ai sighed. "Yeah, but we're going to have to fight Makino-sensei all the time until the test."

Yuka paled. She had kinda forgotten about that once Makoto and Wizarmon had challenged her. "But what should we do then?

Ai smiled. "I'm sure the two of us could think of something!" She smirked.

Makoto looked annoyed. "What about me?"

The two girls turned to look over at Makoto. "Sorry Mako-chan, but I think Yuka and I need some girl time!"

Makoto sputtered. "Ai!? I don't need to..."

Ai glared at her brother before smacking him on the head. "Nothing like that!"

Yuka blinked, before blushing as she realized what Makoto was saying. She? Ai? That? She glared at the boy. "Perv!"

Makoto looked over at them in shock.

Yuka turned to Ai. "Let's go leave this... thing here."

Ai just nodded.

Yuka then turned to her partner. "Come on Devidramon! We're leaving!"

Devidramon broke away from Wizarmon, and flew over to Yuka before devolving. Tsukaimon then flew into Yuuka's arms. "Where we going?"

Yuka smiled. "I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure we'll have fun with Ai!" she turned to the older girl. "You ready?"

Ai nodded and smiled widely, wrapping her arm around Yuka's waist. "Come on, Yuka-chan!"

Yuka blushed. She should've felt annoyed at being called "-chan", but if anything she felt happy. What the hell?

Tsuakimon giggled as he and Yuka were lead into the shopping district by the older girl.

.o0o.

Chika couldn't believe that Takeru-kun was acting like this. This wasn't like him at all. For as long as she could remember, Takeru had always been a pillar of strength, him and Ikuto both. When they used to go on missions together, it was always her that was scared, she who had a harder time fighting against people.

It was she who couldn't keep up.

But now Takeru did something like this, and Chika didn't know what to think. The only thing that did come to her mind right now is that she had been so wrapped up in her own angst and problems that she didn't noticed that one of her best friends had something going on as well. She shook her head and scanned the deck of the ship. She could beat herself up over THIS mistake later. Right now she needed to find Takeru-kun and find out what was wrong. That's all that mattered at the moment.

"How can he slip away from us on this tiny of a ship?" Ikuto asked.

Chika turned around and looked over at Ikuto. "I don't know, but do you have any idea what's wrong with him?"

Ikuto shook his head. "No. And he tells me lots of stuff."

Chika frowned. If even Ikuto didn't know anything... than there was a good chance that even if they found Takeru before the ship landed and they didn't have time to find out what's wrong, he might not tell them anyway. But there was no way that she was going to stand for that. He was going to get help with whatever was bothering him, no matter how much he decided he didn't want it.

Chika turned around again, and this time she saw Takeru leaning on the railing of the ship, Patamon by his side. "Ikuto-kun! I found him!" Chika shouted, turning around briefly and grabbing Ikuto by the wrist and pulling him over towards Takeru. When they finally got close to him, she let go and wrapped her arms around Takeru from behind. "Don't worry us like that again Takeru-kun, okay?"

Takeru didn't say anything for a moment, and Chika thought that maybe she was being too forward considering it was her who had decided that she couldn't do what Ikuto and him wanted... but Takeru's hand soon found itself on one of hers and gave it a quick squeeze.

Chika smiled at that and pressed herself into his back for a moment before pulling away. "What's wrong, Takeru-kun?" she asked.

Takeru turned to face her and sighed. "It's just... this mission," he said.

Patamon, Ikuto, and Chika all frowned at him. "What do you mean?" Ikuto asked.

Takeru turned away again and slouched forward. "We're going to Yokohoma to assassinate three of the leaders of the Virus Busters," he answered. "No matter if we succeed or not, this will explode out into open war between DATS and the Virus Busters."

"But it already got to that point when the Virus Busters teamed up with Kurata!" Ikuto exclaimed.

Chika just grabbed the Ikuto's hand in his own and looked over at Takeru. "Ikuto's right Takeru-kun," she began. "It's going to go that way anyway."

Patamon shook his head. "That's just the thing. We all know that there's a good chance that Dominimon was acting on his own with that, yet..."

Chika frowned. If what Patamon and Takeru were saying was true, then what they were going to do would end up erupting the world into war. "But Commander Satsuma wouldn't order us to do something like this if he didn't have information that the Virus Busters were working with Kurata. And they took Relena and are occupying Yokohoma, in case you forgot. That gives us enough reason to act against them."

"Having the sister of a specific member of the medical staff is different from assassinating three leaders of an army," Takeru pointed out as he turned to face them. "I just think that it would be better for us if we didn't decide to make sure that the Virus Busters become our enemy until one of us is completely destroyed if there's no reason too. Sure, they go overboard, as Dominimon proved, but as it is now we could be sparking a war for no reason."

Chika frowned and looked down at her hands. What Takeru was saying did make some sense. If they killed Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Ophanimon... so many people would die.

Ikuto just shook his head. "We'll just find out when get to Yokohoma then!"

Chika blinked. "But Ikuto-kun, we're supposed to kill them. If they know we're there they'll probably leave the city."

"Then we'll be sneaky about it," Ikuto said. "Distracting the Virus Busters is what the army attacking is for, right?"

Chika frowned for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, we'll liberate Yokohoma and find out if we need to do this to the leaders in the first place."

Takeru sighed and turned to Patamon. "I just hope things don't turn out as bad as I fear."

Chika just pouted at that, and hugged him again.

… But it wasn't going to be long now, she could already Yokohoma in the distance.

.o0o.

Yuka frowned as Ai dragged her from clothing store to clothing store, getting her to somehow try on several dresses and skirts in the process. "Do we really have to keep shopping like this?" she asked. Today alone Ai had somehow gotten her to buy two dresses and a pink shirt and green skirt for a total of three different outfits. That was more than she bought herself in a month!

Ai just turned and smiled over at her. "Of course! You act like you haven't gone shopping in like forever!"

That was because she practically hadn't, but Yuka had a feeling that actually telling Ai that would be somewhere on the 'not-smart' list of things to do. She pouted instead. "But I"m almost out of money!" Which was true. She had far overspent the money she had ever decided to spend on clothing.

Ai frowned and sighed. "Okay, you win. I'll pay for this and we'll get going." She said, holding up a girly girly looking dress.

Score one for Yuka!

Ai flitted up to the counter and started waiting on the line.

Yuka fidgeted, bouncing on her feet. She couldn't wait to get out of this place. There were WAY too many dresses around her for her tastes. In a few moments, Ai came back to her, a new bag in her hands. "Okay Yuka-chan. I'm ready to go."

Yuka blushed and started walking with Ai out of the clothing store. Outside, people were going among their business, what looked like thousands of people were shopping for things they needed or didn't need but wanted or demanded anyway. There were time swheh Yuka thought she actually understood what her mom and the older agents meant when they they thought that it was hard to tell that they were on a military base. Then again, just because this was where the base was located didn't mean there weren't civilians.

"Do you think we're ready for the test Ai?" Yuka asked.

Ai stopped walking for a moment and looked over at her. "Of course we'll be ready! But I don't think acting like that suits you though."

Yuka blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You should be more optimistic about things!" Ai said. "With you making our plans, we'll be fine. If anything I should be the mopey self-doubting one!"

Yuka gasped at that. "No, you shouldn't! You're just as awesome as I am!"

Ai giggled. "Thanks Yuka-chan. That means a lot."

Yuka nodded. "You're welcome."

And then Yuka saw something in the window behind Ai, and before the other girl would've known it, Yuka was running over to get a look at it. It was a sword. A massive, shiny, well made sword.

Yuka felt like... she didn't know what she felt like, but she knew that she needed that blade... at least until she got a look at the price tag. It cost way too much for her to afford. Even if she did pass and become a DATS agent, it would probably cost a few months pay at the least.

Ai came up next to her and looked at the sword. "That's... expensive."

Yuka could just nod sadly.

Ai seemed to notice, and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Come on, I'm sure you'll be able to get it eventually."

Yuka wasn't cheered up by that, even if she saw Ai take a closer look at it. The next moment, Yuka felt herself grabbed by the arm and wondering where Tsukaimon had gone off to as she was dragged away over to a nearby bench. "So..." Ai began as she let go of Yuka's arm. "Disappointment on not being able to go buy that sword aside, did you have fun?"

Yuka nodded. "Yeah, I did. It's weird though, shopping's not my idea of fun."

Ai giggled, and Yuka noticed that her cheeks were tinged red. "I'm glad," the older girl said, moving a little closer to Yuka.

Yuka blinked.

And then Ai's lips were pressed against hers and Yuka's eyes widened and what the heck?

Yuka dropped her bags as Ai pulled her closer and broke the kiss.

Yuka blinked. Her first kiss. And she didn't even do anything! She just stood there like an idiot!

… Oh, and Yuka figured that she should probably be upset with Ai for stealing her first kiss, but all she could think of was 'that was why Relena and Takuya were making out in public."

Ai's blush deepened. "Sorry... I..."

Yuka shook her head and moved forward, pressing her lips against Ai's again.

The could figure out the other things later.


	25. The Strike Begins

It was time.

Chika sighed and looked over at Takeru and Ikuto, her hands held at her sides. "This place sure is different than when we were here last."

Takeru nodded. The three of them were hiding in the more... desolate parts of the city, but even so there were several Virus Buster digimon around than she could've hoped for.

Ikuto sighed, walking a bit in front of her. "How long is it going to take Captain Yagami to start the attack?" he asked. Chika looked over at him, and even at his age he was bouncing in place. She almost couldn't blame him really, this waiting was driving her crazy as well.

"No idea," Takeru answered. "But we're in as deep as we can be right now." The blond leaned against a nearby building, arms crossed over his chest as he watched the street, his digiivice with Patamon stored inside it hidden from the view of any passing digimon.

Chika fidgeted a bit, adjusting the scarf she had covering the bottom of her face. Like Takeru, she and Ikuto had their partners' in their digivices, and they weren't in uniform. No reason to give themselves away after all.

"I know that!" Ikuto exclaimed, somehow managing to keep it quiet. Chika figured that it was only because of years of practice.

Chika sighed, wishing that her face wasn't so well known among the Virus Busters at this point, but her reputation as a fighter that she gained in the last few years would've made that hard even if she and Piyomon hadn't defeated Dominimon back on File Island. But factoring that in? It was completely impossible. Even so, she was a little bit annoyed that Ikuto and Takeru weren't taking the precautions to hiding their face that she was. There had been at least one passing Greymon or Angemon that Chika was almost sure had recognized the two men with her.

"Ikuto!" Falcomon shouted from inside Ikuto's digivice, his voice sounding panicked. "Something's coming right for us!"

Chika's eyes widened as she felt something prick at the back of her head. She knew this feeling well enough. "I sense it too." Relena had evolved enough times recently that if Falcomon hadn't said anything she might not had even realized it was there. A bio-hybrid was heading their way. Chika grabbed her digivice and quickly realized Piyomon, who only took a brief moment to stretch his wings before getting ready for a fight.

Ikuto and Takeru followed her lead, just in time to see a white armored sphinx passing over them, being chased by both a mix of Angemon and Gizmon.

Chika's eyes widened. She knew who that was. "Miyako-chan!" she shouted, looking over at the others. "Forget the plan. Our cover's going to be blown soon enough anyway unless Miyako manages to kill all those things." She didn't even wait before turning around and getting ready to evolve Piyomon to see the sphinx, Bio Nefertimon... no, Miyako, slam into the nearby ground.

Chika wasn't going to waste any time, her digisoul flaring around her body as she slammed her hand down on her digivice. "Digisoul Full Charge!" Chika shouted, her digisoul flashing into a solid orange, and in the next moment Garudamon was charging into the sky. There was a flash of green--ish black in the edge of Chika's vision, and in the next moment Takeru's Neo Devimon was flying after Garudamon. Hopefully they wouldn't get yelled at too much from Commander Satsuma for this...

There was a shout of "Digisoul Charge! Overdrive!" from Ikuto at the same time as explosions started going off around the city.

Looks like the attack had begun... but there was no longer any chance of the diversion working.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by CustomMagnum

Chapter 25: The Strike Begins...

.o0o.

Ravemon joined the other two digimon and Chika took the time to run over to Miyako. "Are you alright?" she asked, resting a hand on the backside of the other bio-hybrid and wincing as she felt blood on her hand.

Miyako let out a pained cough as she struggled to her feet. "About time you guys showed up," she grunted before collapsing on the ground again.

"Don't try to get up!" Ikuto shouted, running towards the two of them.

Miyako just groaned. "Right? And I should just..."

A red ball of energy slammed into the ground behind Miyako, sending Chika staggering backwards a bit and slamming into the ground; Miyako screamed in pain. Chika just winced and got to her feet, compared to what had just happened with her friend the pain that she felt was nothing. Chika looked up at the sky and stared in shock at Silphymon. He was hovering in the air above them, smirking. "Looks like I still have a chance at recovering that data from you after all Daimon."

Chika let out a growl. "I'll tear you apart this time!" she shouted, her fist clenching, violet digisoul enveloping her body before she quickly evolved to Bio Holsmon. She heard Miyako let out another pained gasped and looked over at Takeru and Ikuto. "Take care of her!" she shouted, spreading her wings. "I'll take care of this guy!" And with that she took to the sky.

Silphymon smirked. "Give it your best shot!" he shouted, gathering up red energy and throwing it towards her.

Chika effortlessly dodged out of the blast's path and kept on target, firing a blast of her own from her eyes. But Silphymon just dodged under the beam and started speeding towards her as well. Red energy gathered in the perfect digimon's hands, and Chika realized that he was going to wait until she was right next to him before he fired. Chika had no idea if she was going to be able to dodge it in time.

Thankfully a blast of lightning from Ravemon meant that she didn't have to, as Silphymon was sent flying. Chika changed her direction and began diving, claws outstretched as Silphymon stopped his descent. Chika swiped her claws forward and kept from grinning as they claws tore through Silphymon's chest. Chika felt both elated and disgusted with herself as she heard Silphymon scream and saw him fly back. But she was in the middle of a warzone now, so she couldn't worry about this now. She charged towards Silphymon again, but was forced to stop short as two blasts from an Angemon and a Gizmon sped towards her.

Chika didn't realize that Silphymon had fired another blast until it was too late, the blast slamming into her and sending spiraling into the ground. It didn't take her long to right herself again just in time to see Silphymon get punched in the back of the head by Garudamon. "Mach Impulse!" Chika shouted, firing two beams from her eyes at Silphymon's chest.

Silphymon let out a gasp as the blasts connected. Chika took the moment it bought her to look down at Miyako, Ikuto, and Takeru. So far, everything seemed fine for them, Takeru was easily able to parry any attacks coming towards them with that oversized sword that he liked using. But that looked it like might not last that much longer, as more of the Angemon were heading towards them. Chika was about to go fly down towards them, but Ravemon beat her too it, landing on the ground and started slashing at the approaching digimon.

Chika turned her attention back to to Silphymon. "Give this up!"

Silphymon glared at her, but soon found himself having to turn around to block another attack from Garudamon. Chika flew forward and clawed at Silphymon's unprotected back, but th enemy perfect broke away from Garudamon and dodged her swipe at the last moment. Chika was barely able to keep her claws out of Garudamon's flesh. Both of them turned to look at Silphymon. The bird-man flew back and a few Gizmon flew in front of him. Chika glared at the war machines, and hoped that they could get through this.

The Gizmon fired, and she and Garudamon were forced to fly in opposite directions to avoid the beams, and the machines kept up the firing and kept them divided.

Slash Angemon didn't seem to be an option right now.

.o0o.

Relena walked off of the ship that she had taken to the city, and she sighed. For a city that had been invaded not even a month ago, Yokohoma was in pretty decent shape, even if it had a bunch of digimon inhabiting it. She shook her head to turned to look over at V-mon, who had walked over to her side. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

Relena nodded and forced out a smile. "Yeah, just brings some bad memories back."

V-mon just hugged her suddenly, and all Relena could do was kneel down to help her back. She kept hugging him for a moment, even as she saw the Angemon looking over at her. And they weren't happy at all. "Relena...?" she heard V-mon ask. Relena just shook her head. "It's fine." Not that she was going to not keep her eye on the Virus Buster digimon. No telling when a "stray"attack from an Angemon that remembered her from back during their invasion would try to hit her.

It was then when her eyes fell on a familiar face. "Takuya..." Relena whispered.

V-mon pulled away from her and looked over at where she was staring. Relena felt like she could actually _ifeel/i_ V-mon tense up a bit. She didn't know if he could sense that Takuya was a hybrid even though he was in his human form for some reason, or if he could tell that she and Takuya had made out at some point. But she didn't have that much time to think about it anymore, as Takuya noticed her.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments. Part of Relena felt happy to see the boy; another part felt sad; yet a third part just wanted to ignore both of those parts and run. She had no idea how she was supposed to feel. She had come to like the boy during their short time together, yet they had delivered her straight to...

… her grandmother, but he and his friends didn't know that at the time. They probably thought that they were giving her to Kurata for the type of experiments that he was known for. Even if Takuya seemed not to know about that little detail called 'handing her over', Relena still couldn't be sure.

"It's good to see you," Takuya said after a long moment.

"Same here," Relena answered, turning away from him and looking out at the ocean. Maybe the waves would calm her down a bit. She moved her hand down to pat V-mon on the head after a moment and turned back to Takuya. "V-mon, this is Takuya. It's because of him that I was able to find you. He's a good friend of mine."

V-mon relaxed and turned to look over at Takuya. "Thank you!"

Takuya just blinked at the small digimon.. "You're welcome?" he asked.

Relena giggled... and then clutched the side of her head as s harp pang slammed through it. It felt familiar somehow...

… and then Relena realized what it was. A bio-hybrid had evolved nearby. She wasn't sure how she knew that exactly, but it didn't matter. Not now. The only time she had felt something like this was when... Chika had become Bio Holsmon that one time, even if she was still too distracted to realize it at the time.

Chika was here!

Relena gabbed her digivice and gathered her digisoul into it her palm, focusing on her rage at that murderer more than anything else, but not enough to turn V-mon into a monster. That wouldn't help anyone. "Digisoul Charge!" she shouted, slamming her palm down on her new digivice. The artifical digisoul suddenly burst blue and shot out at V-mon.

V-mon began glowing and quickly evolved into Lighdramon, and Relena moved over and jumped on his back. "Daimon Chika is here!" She shouted, turning her head to face the digimon that her grandmother had sent along with her. "I'm going on ahead." She then turned her attention to Takuya. "If you want to help me, get on."

Takuya didn't say anything, he just got on her partner's back and wrapped his arms around her waist. Relena didn't even blush as Lighdramon started running in the direction that she pointed at. Chika was here.

And she was going to die.

.o0o.

Chika let out a scream, blasting at Silphymon another time. This was getting them nowhere fast. Almost every time she'd attack he'd dodge and throw back an attack of his own.

Silphymon grinned. "Got to do better than that!" he yelled, firing a blast of energy right into Chika's face, sending her crashing into the ground. He then charged right down towards her, fist pulled back.

Chika rolled out of the way and made it to her feet, firing a blast of energy at Silphymon's back. This time the energy hit him and sent him staggering forward, shouting in pain. Chika saw Takeru and Ikuto run over to her, slashing away at the two blasts that came speeding towards them. "What are you doing?!" she shouted. "Go back to Miyako!"

Miyako climbed to her feet and spread her wings. "Go to hell!" she shouted, the jewel on her forehead glowing pink for a moment. In the next instant, a beam fired out of it directly into Silphymon's chest, sending him staggering backwards.

Garudamon charged backwards, fire gathering around his body. "Shadow Wing!" he shouted, spreading his wings as a bird-shaped blast of fire shot off of his body and charged towards Silphymon. The blast slammed into Silphymon's back, covering the perfect digimon with fire.

Neo Devimon charged forward and slashed at Silphymon's chest with his claws.

Silphymon let out a scream as all the attacks hit him and started falling to the ground, his body glowing and shrinking as he did so.

A Hawkmon slammed into the ground right where Silphymon would've landed.

Chika's eyes widened as she stared at the helpless child digimon resting on the ground. She knew that Hawkmon, she could tell instantly. She turned to look over at Miyako, and although Bio Nefertimon's mask wouldn't show it, Chika knew that the other hybrid was staring at the child. Even so, Chika couldn't believe it. Miyako devolved and ran over to the child digimon, bending over to scoop him up in her arms, but a Gizmon's beam slammed into her chest and sent her flying back.

Chika turned to get ready to attack the lone Gizmon that was left, but the thing suddenly decided to be fast, speeding down to the ground and grabbing Hawkmon before any of them could react and flying away from the battlefield.

"It looks like that was the last one," Takeru commented, walking over to her.

Chika didn't say anything, she just got ready to chase after it... when a blast of lightning headed towards them. She did the only thing that she could think of, she jumped in front of the blast. Chika screamed as lightning coursed through her body, making every nerve seem like it was on fire. But this attack... it was different from Relena's.

"Die bitch!" Relena shouted. Chika's eyes widened. This attack was still too weak to be Relena, but what did...

… And that's when she was Relena headed towards her, riding on the back of a Lighdramon, who had already prepared another blast. "Blue Thunder!" the digimon shouted, the blast of lightning speeding towards her.

Ravemon flew down in front of the blast and blocked it with his sword. "Stop this Relena!" he shouted.

Chika noticed a familiar looking boy jump off of the Lighdramon's back, a barcode-like digisoul appearing around his body for a moment. In the next moment, standing in the boy's place was a combination of both the fire-armor wearing man and the fire themed armor wearing dragon that he had used before. It looked like Takuya had been hiding some power that he had back on File Island.

Relena jumped off of Lighdramon's body, digisoul flaring to life around her entire body. Chika noticed that there was a digivice in her hands, and in the next moment, the girl's hand slammed down on it.

The Lighdramon started glowing.

"Digisoul Full Charge!"


	26. What Can go Wrong

Yuka couldn't think. Or rather, she couldn't stop thinking. Mostly about Ai's lips. The young girl groaned, and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face into her pillow.

Tsukaimon looked over at her, concerned. "You're being mopey," he said, sounding a little bit sad as he looked over at her.

Yuka grabbed another of the many pillows from her bed and threw it over in the general direction of Tsukaimon. She heard a small thudding noise, and figured that Tsukaimon had moved out of the way and the pillow had landed on the floor. And it wasn't long before Yuka found a familiar weight on her back. "Get off Tsukaimon."

"Stop with the mopey!"

Yuka threw her arm at her back, hoping to knock him off. All she really managed to do was slap her hand at her back, and to make it worse Tsuakaimon hadn't even bothered to get off of her. She groaned, and quickly turned around, Tsukaimon's weight leaving her back... and then landing on her stomach with a thud.

Tsukaimon stared at her with his wide eyes. "What's wrong now? You're both mopey and blushy!"

"I am not!" Yuka protested. Then again, considering where her thoughts were, he was just telling her what she already knew. Not that she was going to admit it, like, ever.

"Yes you are!" Tsukaimon countered in a singsong voice. Then he blinked and stared at her again. "So, what's wrong?"

Yuka didn't say anything for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. Just thinking about that kiss again... kinda made her feel funny inside. She let out a sigh. "Ai kissed me," she paused. "No, not just that. I kissed her back."

"So?" Tsukaimon asked.

Yuka just stared at him for a moment. "We're both girls!"

Tsukaimon just blinked at her.

Yuka didn't say anything else, she just stared at her digimon for a moment. He obviously wasn't understanding why that could be a problem.

Tsukaimon then broke out into a grin "You liked Relena's chest well enough!"

Yuka growled and threw another pillow at him, grinning as it slammed into the small digimon's face. Granted, the grin faded when he went flying and she heard Tsukaimon slam into the floor, but still. For a comment like that, anyone else would've done much worse. "That was mean!" she heard her partner shout.

Yuka snorted. "You deserved it."

"But why!?"

Yuka just ignored him and turned back over on her stomach... and then her partner pounced her again, landing on her back. This was starting to get annoying. "You're making a big deal out of nothing!" he shouted.

Yuka sighed. "It's different for humans."

"Why?"

"Because it is. Digimon might not care about gender since an Angewomon can make babies with a Gesomon, but it doesn't work that way for me!" Yuka shouted, although why she was using that as a point she had no idea. It wasn't like she and Ai could be anywhere near that serious for a good long while anyway.

"Again, why?" Tsukaimon asked.

Yuka growled. "Because I didn't even think I liked girls until today!" she shouted.

"Again, Relena's chest staring. Ignoring obvious liking you Tomoki."

Yuka just blinked at that. "I did what?" She asked, slowly turning over to face her partner, grabbing him by the sides as she turned over.

Tsukaimon grinned. "You ignored a boy who wanted to make out with you!" he chirped. "I didn't need to be Ikuto!"

Yuka just groaned and put her partner down, flipping over and burying her head into her pillow again.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: CustomMagnum

Chapter 26: What can go Wrong...

.o0o.

Chika could only stare at Relena and the evolving Lighdramon next to her. What was going on here? Everything didn't make sense, first with Silphymon and with what was just happening here...

"Lighdramon evolve!" Lighdramon shouted, his body becoming more humanoid before his head shifted into that of a wolf. His armor exploded off of his body as black fur started growing out of his skin, torn jeans appearing on his bottom... or rather now only legs. "Were Garurumon!" the creature shouted, looking down at Chika and letting out a snarl.

Chika turned to the smirking Relena, who already had another aura of digisoul raging around her body, and within moments she had evolved into Bio Lighdramon. "Time for us to finish what we started on File Island!" And with that, the dragon and the wolf-man charged towards her.

"Where'd you get that model of digivice!?" Chika shouted as she backed away from a swipe from the other hybrid.

Relena snarled. "From someone who wants you just as dead as I do for Father's death!" she shouted, lightning gathering around her body. In the next moment, it was firing towards her.

Chika's eyes widened as the blast sent her flying backwards, slamming into the ground. She quickly brought herself to her feet, ducking under a swipe from Were Garurumon's claws. This didn't make much sense at all... "V-mon?" she asked.

"And if I am?" Were Garurumon growled before taking another swipe at her head, but Garudamon's was suddenly slamming into the side of Were Garurumon's head, sending him flying away from her.

Chika looked back over at Relena, already gathering energy in her eyes at the snarling hybrid. She fired the two beams of energy at Relena at the same time the younger girl fired off another blast of lightning, the two attacks colliding and exploding. "Where did you get that digivice!?" Chika shouted again. That model was designed by Noguchi Misuzu, and as far as Chika knew she was the only person to have one of them. Even if Kurata could've managed to make something that... "Did Kurata give that to you!?" she asked. She thought for sure that Relena was with the Virus Busters.

Relena just sent another blast of lightning over at Chika, the attack sending her crashing inot the ground again.

Chika climbed to her feet and glared over at Relena. Between this and Garudamon's fight with Were Garudamon, things weren't going well at all.

.o0o.

Ikuto glared at the other hybrid that had shown up with Relena. This was one of the guys from File Island... one of the guys that had attacked Yuka. He wasn't going to let this guy get away, not now.

Ravemon flew forward and slashed down at the hybrid with his sword. "I'm not going to lose to you guys this time!" he shouted, even as the hybrid dodged the sword strike. Ravemon just slashed at him again.

"You just tell yourself that!" the hybrid shouted, two blades on his arms glowing read as they rotated to point at Ravemon's chest. Small blasts of fire shot out of the blades at the Ultimate digimon's chest, sending Ravemon moving back a bit.

Ikuto saw the digimon charge forward towards Ravemon, his two pronged arm-blades ready to go through his partner's head. Ikuto jumped forward, his dark violet digisoul flaring to life around his body. He grabbed his boomerang off of his back and threw it at the digmon attacking his partner, but the weapon just bounced off the hybrid's armor. He let out a curse and grabbed the weapon out of the air. He turned to look over at Takeru, who was running towards the two clashing digimon, body and sword consumed by a brilliant green digisoul now. Takeru lifted his sword and prepared to strike against the hybrid.

Their attacker jumped back as Takeru swung down with his blade. "Neo Devimon! Ravemon!" he shouted.

Ravemon stabbed his sword into the pavement and concentrated. Lightning shot down from the sky towards the blade. He quickly grabbed the blade and slashed at the hybrid with it, the lightning shooting off it and slamming into the fire warrior's chest, knocking it back.

Neo Devimon flew down towards it, claws extended and shining as he slashed at the staggering hybrid, but the digimon let out a growl and easy blocked Neo Devimon's attack. "I'm not going down that easily!" he shout his arm blades glowing red.

Takeru's eyes widened and he ran forward again with his blade raised to strike.

"Bramha Sutra!" Ardhamon shouted, firing balls of flame out of the blades and into Neo Devimon's chest, knocking the viral digimon to the ground. Neo Devimon let out a scream, glowing white for a moment before Patamon was in his place and bouncing on the street.

Ikuto heard Takeru scream as black flecks appeared in his digisoul again, slashing down at the armored warrior. The blade scraped against the hybrid's armor and managed to leave a rather deep gash in it, but the fighter himself was still pretty much unharmed. The hybrid turned back towards Takeru and prepared to fire at him, but Ravemon suddenly landed and slashed at the hybrid, forcing it to jump backwards to avoid it. The hybrid recovered quickly enough, and started firing his arm cannons at Ravemon, but Ikuto's partner managed to parry all of the blasts away from him with his sword.

The hybrid let out a curse, and charged towards Ravemon again.

.o0o.

Relena charged towards Chika, lightning jumping around her body. This time she was going to make that bitch pay! "Lightning Blade!" she shouted, the lightning on her body leaping off her as she slashed down in the air with her head. The younger of the two hybrid's let out a smirk, her body almost about to start dancing in place as she saw the strike slam into Chika's back and knock her to the side.

But the grin faded as she saw Chika land on her feet and glare right at her. Relena let out a snarl and charged forward again. She was going to tear her jaws through that bitches throat! It would be such a fitting end for her.

Chika's eyes stared glowing read and she fired off beams of energy at Relena, but the younger hybrid jumped out of the way, jaws opening as she started heading towards Chika again. She wasn't going to let something like that attack keep her from what she wanted. Not now. Not again. Chika fired off another blast, but Relena dodged that too and this time as she ran forward she was too close for Chika to be able to fire another blast in time.

A blast of flame suddenly slammed into Relena's side and before she could even let out a gasp something else slammed into her head and sent her flying into a large slab of concrete. It had probably been a building before this battle had started. It took her a few moments to shrug off the feeling of a sledgehammer slamming into her skull, but she needed to get back to her feet.

Garudamon was standing near Chika, looking enraged. What happened to... and then Garudamon tossed Were Garurumon to the ground, the digimon devolving into V-mon who struggled to his feet.

"V-mon!" Relena shouted, before she broke out in a run towards her partner. "Are you alright?" she asked.

V-mon nodded. "I'm sorry," he said, looking away from Relena for a moment.

"Don't be," Relena said, shaking her head before turning back to Chika. She let out a small growl.

"Relena-chan! This is stupid!" Chika shouted. Like the bitch had any right to say that... even so, as things were now, Relena realized that she couldn't win. Even with Takuya helping her... this wasn't going to work. There was no way she could stop Chika from becoming Slash Angemon now.

"Takuya! We need to leave!" Relena shouted, and the hybrid just flew over to her without a word.

"I'm not going to let you run!" Ravemon shouted, flying towards the three of them.

Takuya screamed and focused a massive ball of fire in his hands before throwing it at Ravemon. He then turned back to her, not even waiting to watch the blast he threw explode and send Ravemon flying back. "If we're going to get out of here we need to do it now!" he said.

Relena nodded and devolved. And in the next moment Takuya scooped her and V-mon in his arms and took to the sky. The young girl glared in Chika's direction. She needed to get stronger! There was no way around it.

.o0o.

Chika let out a sigh, shaking her head as she devolved. That could've gone much better than it did. "We need to keep going with the plan," she said after a moment.

Ikuto looked over at her. "But Relena and that hybrid are going to report that we were here. Any surprise that we had is gone now."

"But what are we supposed to do!?" Chika shouted.

Takeru walked over to them, cradling Patamon in his arms. "We need to lay low for a while, probably without anyone from here knowing that we're with the main DATS force. Actually, it might be better for us to leave Yokohoma for a moment..."

Patamon shook his head and flew out of Takeru's arms. "We still have a few contacts here in Yokohoma!" he said, flapping his wings furiously. "I can blend in pretty well with the Virus Busters with my adult form. I'll go speak with a few of them, but you guys need to get Miyako to safety!"

"Wait!?" Gaudamon shouted before he devolved to Piyomon. "Right now we should get out of here. If the Three Great Angels even stay here they'll be looking for us for sure!"

Ravemon shook his head. "They've already thought of that. The outskirts of the city are probably being patrolled. Patamon's plan is probably the best one we have."

Ikuto sighed and nodded, before pressing the button on the headset in his ear. He frowned, and then let out a curse. "They've jammed our communicators too. I thought we got that fixed after last time!" He said, pulling his out of his ear.

Chika sighed. "Alright, we'll head back to main forces for now, and bring Miyako to safety."

Takeru nodded. "Alright then." He began, before pulling out his digivice, a flash of green digisoul appearing around his palm. In the next moment he slammed his palm down on it and Patamon was suddenly an Angemon. He turned to his partner. "You be careful, alright?"

Angemon nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon." And with that, Patamon took off to the sky.

Chika turned to the others for a moment and sighed. For once couldn't things go well for them?


	27. Life and Love

Relena's teeth throbbed, clenched together as they were. Her nails dug into the palms of her fist as she, Takuya and V-mon walked towards Yokohoma's city hall, where the Three Great Angels of the Virus Busters had made their home. She couldn't believe how much of a failure she was!

Takuya placed an arm on her shoulder. "Relena, please calm down," he said.

Relena turned around and slapped the arm away. "Calm down! How can you expect me to calm down!? V-mon and I just lost against Chika! We... couldn't really do anything at all!"

Takuya just put a hand on her shoulder again. "So, you'll get another chance!" he exclaimed. "But you shouldn't focus too much on that though, aren't you about to go meet Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon?"

Relena just glared at the boy. Even so, that little fact he pointed out didn't change how she felt about it.

"You may not be the main representative of the forces of the side you chose, but considering who's in-charge of Kurata right now, you'll still give the wrong impression like this," Takuya added.

Relena's eyes widened. "Wait, you know my grandmother is Kurata's boss!?"

Takuya nodded. "Ophanimon told me after Mephismon took you. Honestly, it made me feel a lot better about it, even though I was still annoyed that I didn't know about why we went to get you at all until after it."

Relena looked away from him and turned around. "I..." she shook her head. "What am I supposed to do to take out Chika though."

Takuya sighed. "Look, I'll help you train, but you need to calm down a bit before we go see the my... the Three Angels, alright?"

Relena turned around and nodded. "Okay, but what exactly should I do to calm down."

Takuya grinned a bit and Relena blinked at him. "Oh, If you really need me to think of something..." he said, and in the next moment Relena felt herself being pulled to him, his lips pressing against hers.

Well... this was something she never thought she was going to feel again. Relena instinctively deepened the kiss, pressing up against Takuya's chest, her arms wrapping around his neck. It wasn't until the two of them broke apart briefly that Relena realized just what happened. "Takuya... stop."

Takuya stared at her, blinking. "What's wrong?"

Relena shook her head. "We moved too fast back on File Island," she said, slowly prying herself out of the boy's arms. "I mean.... we met, then we made out. A lot. You know as well as I do that we only bothered doing that because we knew we wouldn't see each other again."

Takuya frowned, and Relena sighed. "Look, I'm not saying something might not happen in the future or not, but can we just be friends first?"

Takuya pulled away. "Friends, huh? I guess... but you seemed to really enjoy that last kiss."

Relena blushed and glared at him. "Enjoying it or not doesn't matter! If there's an 'us', I want it to be us, not just our hormones."

Takuya nodded. "Alright, friends first then."

Relena smiled. "Good." Now she was just going to have to work on not ogling his body if he ever wore a swimsuit in her presence again, but well... she was just going to have to live with it.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 27: Life and Love

.o0o.

Yuka sighed, swinging her legs over the edge of a stone fence, staring up at the night sky. It... well, everything had just been so odd since Ai kissed her. She didn't know what to think, or what to do about it.

Tsukaimon wasn't even with her right now, he was busy pigging out on food that Mrs. Daimon had made. And if Yuka wasn't all confused and not hungry, she would be right there with him. Her mom's cooking was fine, but Mrs. Daimon's made her tongue feel like it was getting the best massage of its life.

But she couldn't focus on eating, not right now. Was it really yesterday that Ai kissed her?

"Are you alright kid?"

Yuka's eyes widened as she turned around a bit, seeing Masaru standing behind her, an amused look on his face. She quickly turned away again. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure, because honestly? You don't look it," Masaru answered.

Yuka let out a huff, her eyebrows narrowing. This wasn't really something she could talk to him about, she needed to...

… no, she really couldn't ask her brother about it. Or her Mom or Dad.

… but why not him?

Oh right, Masaru was a guy. Duh. "Yeah... I'm sure," Yuka said finally.

Masaru laughed. "This about that Ai girl you're in a Unit for the DATS agent test with?"

"No!" Yuka shouted almost as soon as the question left Masaru's lips.

Masaru just chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be much of a question since you made out with her in public and all."

"You know about that!?" Yuka shouted, turning around to look at him.

Masaru frowned. "You know, I heard the rumors, but I assumed that they were... well... exaggerated."

Yuka couldn't believe how stupid she was. She quickly turned away from Masaru again, her face now beat red.

"Well, you do look like you need advice. Well, I can't really say anything about the other girl thing other than anyone who actually cares isn't worth your time. As for the whole "relationship with a comrade and friend thing"... well, I think my relationship speaks for itself on that manner. You two will be fine."

Yuka frowned. "So, Ai and I will end up sex buddies for a decade then?"

"Hey!" Masaru shouted. "The only reason we haven't set a date these past five years is because..." He frowned. "No, I shouldn't bother to tell you that. Don't take ALL of how my relationship with Yoshino seems to be as a model. But if you just let it stay the way it is for now you should be fine."

Yuka pulled her legs into her chest. "But... well... what about anti-fraternization regulations and stuff? I mean, people in the same regular unit aren't really supposed to be in relationships like that... right?"

Masaru laughed. "Wait until you're all agents before wondering how to cheat the system at that. Besides, chances are you, Ai, and Makoto won't be in the same unit after the test anyway."

Yuka pouted. "But... I.." she just shook her head. "I... don't know. Why does this..."

Masaru just laughed and moved over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you're still a kid. You have plenty of time to angst over this once you're finally a teenager."

Yuka actually giggled at that one. "That's... not far off though."

Next thing Yuka knew, Masaru's hand was ruffling through her hair. "Hey!" Yuka shouted, batting at his arm to get him to stop. She hated when Ik-nii did that, she wasn't going to let Masaru-niisan do that too.

Masaru just laughed. "It's far enough." He said, pulling his hand away from her.

Yuka just shook her head and stood up. "I guess I should talk to Ai about this sometime, shouldn't I?"

"That's up to you," Masaru said. "But are you feeling better now?"

Yuka pouted. "... A little."

Masaru sighed. "Okay, okay, I tried the advice route like Mom and Mizusu asked, didn't work. So I'll have to try something else then."

Yuka just had the time to blink before Masaru's fist came speeding towards her. She was able to jump out of the way easily enough, and stared up at the grinning Masaru.

Well... she really hadn't had to chance to beat something up today.

With that thought in mind, Yuka grinned and charged towards Masaru, fist pulled back.

.o0o.

Chika sighed, looking around the tent that she and Piyomon were given as their personal quarters while they were stationed in the battlefield around Yokohoma. They had failed and probably missed their chance at killing Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon. And the worse thing was, Chika wasn't sure she felt bad about that. Granted, they were the leaders of a bunch of genocidal fanatics... but there was time when Chika did think they were the good guys and she and Piyomon even helped them out.

It was during a fight with them against the Nightmare Soldiers that she had evolved Piyomon to Slash Angemon the first time, long before she became a Bio-Hybrid. But that was when she had learned the truth about the Virus Busters, and about how they really operated. How they were attacking a nursery instead of an army base.

Chika shook her head and went to go sit down. No use thinking about it now. What was important was liberating Yokohoma...

… and eventually learning the truth about Hawkmon. It was obvious with Silphymon's devolution that Hawkmon wasn't fused to her like they originally thought, just like V-mon wasn't in Relena.

So then what was in her? What was in Relena?

And why did Kurata want them so badly? And if he wanted it, then why did he let Relena live in the first place instead of taking it from her? She sighed, and leaned back a bit, but made sure not to lean her back against the tent.

She was exhausted, everything that had happened felt like it was slamming into her at once now. The world's merging, her capture and torture, what happened with Franz, Ikuto and Takeru, Yokohoma...

She was sick of it. Chika didn't even really know why she was fighting anymore. There were enough people now... it wasn't like it was in the beginning where despite protests from their parents, she and Ikuto had to be part of DATS...

Before she could think anything else though, she heard Takeru call out from outside the tent. "Chika-chan, do you mind if I come in?"

Yes, yes she did. After what had happened with the two of them before the mission, she didn't trust herself around the two of them... but well... she really couldn't SAY that, could she? "No, it's fine. Go ahead."

Takeru walked through the flap of the tent, frowning as he looked down at her huddled in the corner. "Are you alright?" he asked, moving closer to her.

Chika nodded, but didn't say anything. Before she knew it, Takeru was sitting down next to her and staring at her. She sighed. "I'm just thinking, that's all."

"About what?" he asked.

Chika sighed. "I... honestly, I don't know why I'm still part of DATS. Back when I was a kid I wanted to help out, but I always figured by now I'd be done, leaving this to the people who want to be here."

Takeru didn't say anything, but he did move a little closer to her, and in the next moment his arm was around her waist, and her head was leaning against his chest. She blushed, she didn't even remember thinking of putting her head on his chest, but there she was. "... Why are you fighting, Takeru-kun?"

"For the most part I don't," Takeru answered. "I'm a teacher, remember?"

Chika frowned. "Then why are you here?"

Takeru sighed, and slowly started running his hands through her hair. Chika closed her eyes for a moment, but this still didn't really feel right. "To help you. Help Ikuto. Protect you two as best I can."

Chika's eyes widened a bit at that. "Ikuto doesn't need protection Takreu-kun. I... well, anything that can take out us can take out almost everyone."

"I don't mean from the Virus Busters," Takeru said.

Chika blinked and pulled away from him a bit, staring at him. "Who else is there that I'd need protection from..."

Takeru stared up at the ceiling. "... Your guilt." he admitted after a few moments.

Chika just looked away from him. How could he protect her from that?

Takeru wrapped his arms around her, and she could only gasp as she suddenly felt his breath on her neck. "Takeru-kun..."

"Chika-chan. Ikuto and I are here for you. Whenever you need it," Takeru said, before pulling away from her and standing up.

Chika stared up at him, a blush still on her cheeks.

Takeru flashed her a smile. "Ikuto and I are going go spar on the outskirts of the camp in a half hour. If you want to come with us, meet us there, okay?"

Chika sighed and nodded. She wasn't sure if she wanted to yet or not, but she'd think about it. It'd be nice to do something fight related that wasn't an actual fight for once.

"Alright then, see you later," Takeru said, leaving her tent and leaving Chika alone.

.o0o.

Yuka gasped as she flopped down on the ground, feeling happy and good despite getting her ass kicked by Masaru.

Masaru just laughed and plopped down next to her. "So, feeling better yet?"

"Yeah," Yuka said, staring up at the sky. The stars were looking really pretty now.

"Good," and with that, Masaru made it to his feet... and Yuka was suddenly scooped up in his arms.

"Masaru-niisan!" Yuka shouted, flailing her arms a bit uselessly. "What are you doing!?" she shouted... before yawning.

Masaru stared down at her a moment. "Making sure you get home before you collapse. It's late and you have important training to get rested up for."

Yuka wanted to protest that she could walk there herself, but another yawn stopped her and before she knew it she was snuggling up against Masaru's chest.

Masaru grinned, and that's the last thing Yuka saw before she fell asleep.

.o0o.

Relena slowly walked through Yokohoma's City Hall, following Takuya as he led them to the where the Three Great Angel's were located at the moment. V-mon awkwardly followed after her, but she could tell that her partner wasn't used to things like this. Then again, Relena wasn't either, but at least she had been taught some of the proper ways to act in formal situations.

It didn't take them long to find where the Angel's were, if only because of a booming voice. "Seraphimon! You're late! Where were you?!"

Relena looked over to Takuya. "Which one is that?" she asked.

"That would be Cherubimon," Takuya answered.

Relena took a deep breath.

"I apologize," another male voice said, obviously Seraphimon. "There... was an issue that I needed to look into."

"Don't let it happen again!" Cherubimon shouted. "DATS had just launched an attack! Our forces don't need one of its leaders being missing when they need leadership the most!"

"Both of you, please, calm down," a female voice, obviously Ophanimon interrupted. "The important thing is that all three of us are here now."

"Takuya... it's time for us to go in, isn't it?" Relena asked.

Takuya nodded, and led the two of them into the next room, and Relena gasped as she noticed the size of it. It was massive, almost half the size of a football stadium. And in the center was a massive table, where the three giant angels were standing, looking over at each other. Seraphimon and Ophanimon were covered completely in armor... and Cherubimon looked like a giant teddy bear thing.

Not that Relena was ever going to say anything like that. After all, all three of these digimon were Ultimates and could almost easily take both her and V-mon out in an instant.

"Takuya, it's good to see you," Ophanimon said in a kind, warm, voice. "And I've seen you've brought a young lady with you. Is this...?"

"She is," Takuya answered, moving to the side and gesturing for Relena to move forward.

Relena did so, walking forward slowly, even as every part of her body told her that she should drop to her feet. "I am Relena Norstein, part of the company sent to assisst you all and granddaughter of Agatha Norstein. I look forward to assisting you against DATS."

Cherubimon looked smug. "That's a bold thing to say from someone who had killed several of our forces in the past."

"Things are different now," Relena said, her eyes narrowing, her blood boiling, but her voice staying cool. Staying professional. "After all, back then I still had reason to believe that DATS was in the right, and in both cases the Virus Busters were the invaders."

Cherubimon snarled at her, and Relena felt it looked out of place on the giant pink digimon. "You sure are smug for..."

"That's enough Cherubimon!" Seraphimon shouted. "Stop trying to bait the child. After all, Takuya and the others fought in the same battles that she did, against one of our own that went rouge."

Relena knew that was bullshit. There was no way that Dominimon could've been acting on his own. Yokohoma wouldn't be occupied right now if that were the case. Even if Takuya's mission was the get her back then, having Devimon dead helped the Virus Busters way too much... at least, if she even cared about that. "There is something that you should know," Relena said.

Ophanimon looked over at her. "What is it child?"

Relena looked up at the three angels. "Three DATS agents by the name of Daimon Chika, Noguchi Ikuto, and Takaishi Takeru are part of DATS attack force, with the probable aim of killing the three of you."

There was silence for a moment, before Cherubimon broke into laughter

Relena saw Takuya and V-mon frown and look at him in shock, even as she frowned herself.

Ophanimon seemed to notice the look. "We already knew that child."

Seraphimon turned to them. "But you see, Takaishi Takeru..." and with that he stared glowing and shrinking.

"... isn't going to be a problem," Patamon finished, flapping his wings where Seraphimon had just stood.

Relena stared at the small digimon. The familiar small digimon.

And grinned.

This was too perfect.


	28. Continuing on the Path

Chika sighed, slowly walking to where Takeru told her he and Ikuto were going to be, wondering why the two of them weren't training a little bit closer to the center of the camp. It wasn't like they really needed to be this far out here. In fact, by all rights it was stupid to be over here. Then again, they were still within the camp, it wasn't like they were kids sneaking off into the battlefield or anything.

She soon came across Takeru and Ikuto, both of them in the middle of a spar, each one near effortlessly deflecting the other's punches with their arms, countering with another attack and having their own strike parried. Chika couldn't help but stand there and watch the two of them for a few moments, each attack being perfectly timed, like they knew each other well enough to practically read each other's minds...

Chika shook her head. There was no need to think thoughts like that now. Not at all, they were just sparring. The fact that both of them had discarded their jackets and shirts at the side was...

… actually, that was rather mesmerizing. Chika found herself staring as both men moved, struck, and blocked, beads of sweat dripping down those bodies.

Of course, they soon noticed her. "Chika!" Ikuto shouted as both he and Takeru stopped their spar to look over at her.

Chika blushed as they waved. "Hey," she said lamely, slowly walking over to them. "Am I late?" she asked.

Takeru shook his head. "No, we just started early," he answered, walking over to him and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Chika's blush just deepened and she looked away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Takeru smiled and pulled his arm away. "Good."

"You're going to spar with us?" Ikuto asked. "I... didn't think you'd say yes."

Chika frowned, then realized that with her saying no to what happened between them recently, most girls in her position would be spending the least amount of time with them as possible. She shook her head. "Nah, it's fine. It's just sparring after all, right?" she asked, slowly unzipping the jacket of her DATS uniform and slipping it off her shoulders, tossing it in the pile where Ikuto and Takeru's jackets and shirts were.

Both boys just stared at her and Chika gave them a look. "No boys, my shirt's staying on."

Takeru and Ikuto both blushed, although Chika really didn't think that would phase them that much.

Or at all really.

Either way though, it was about time for them to start, wasn't it. But where were...

"Where's Falcomon? I figured he and Piyomon would be here at least," Chika commented, slipping into a fighting stance and facing the two of them.

Takeru and Ikuto both dropped into fighting stances as well. "No, they're off doing something," Ikuto commented. "I'm not sure exactly what though."

So it was just the three of them. Seemed a little two convenient for her tastes. Even so, she wasn't going to say anything about that. "So... this going to be a free-for-all, or two against one?"

Takeru smirked. "We can start with a free-for-all," he said. "You two ready?"

Chika and Ikuto both nodded... and the three of them charged at each other.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 28: Continuing on the Path

.o0o.

Relena was already evolved as Bio Lighdramon.

V-mon was already Were Garurumon.

The two of them charged at each other, lightning blasting around Relena's body, energy gathering in  
Were Garurumon's claws.

Relena fired the blast of lightning and Were Garurumon slashed at it, knocking it into the side. Relena growled and ran forward, leaping into the air and pouncing on Were Garurumon's chest, knocking him to the floor.

Were Garurumon rolled backwards on the ground and threw her off his body, sending her flying towards a nearby building before leaping to his feet.

Relena backflipped into the air and landed on her feet, snapping with her jobs. Were Garurumon was pretty knowledgeable about that form of his for only using it twice now. Lightning kept gathering around Relena, and she charged forward again, leaping up into the air and swiping at her partner with her claws.

Were Garurumon ducked out of the way, Relena harmlessly landing on the ground next to him.

Before Relena could turn however Were Garurumon's foot was planted in her face, sending her flying backwards and skidding on the ground, her back scraping against the concrete.

Were Garurumon's eyes widened. "Are you okay!?" he asked.

Relena climbed to her feet. "I'm fine, let's keep going!" she shouting, pounces at Were Garurumon again. Nothing would matter if she and her partner didn't get strong enough to kill Chika. Nothing. Not even if Seraphimon was...

This time Relena managed to knock Were Garurumon to the ground, her paws firmly pushing Were Garurumon into the ground, her instincts in this form giving her conflicting messages with her humanity. She growled, her teeth bared towards Were Garurumon... and stepped off of him. "Get back up, okay?"

Were Garurumon nodded and made it to his feet they charged at each other again.

Relena knew Takuya said he was going to help her train, but during their meeting with the Three Great Angel's he had been called away due to a distress call made by Chiaki, so she and Were Garurumon were on her own, if only because the Angels wouldn't let Takuya take them with him. That annoyed her a bit, the whole reason the two of them were even there in the first place was for them to help the Virus Busters with things regarding DATS!

Then again, Relena doubted that she'd trust people from another faction in their situation either, so she really couldn't blame them. But still...

Were Gaurumon turned to the side, causing Relena to leap past him. She let out a growl... and then a gasp as her hind legs were grabbed before she landed on the ground, and soon her entire world was spinning... before she was suddenly let go and sent flying into a wall, collapsing on a heap on the ground, her body reverting to normal.

God damn it... her partner sure was strong. Relena struggled to her feet again, and Were Garurumon ran over to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice sounding almost... childish as he fawned over her.

Relena coughed and grabbed her side. "I'm a little beat up, but I'll be fine," she said. She forced herself not to get angry at herself. There was no way she was magically going to be stronger than she was in one day, she had to remind herself about that. If she didn't, then... well... things might go bad for her and she'll never get strong enough.

"Are you sure?" he asked, devolving back into V-mon.

Relena just nodded, before she started walking in the direction of the hotel they were going to be staying in for the night, making sure that V-mon stayed near her as she walked. Right now she could use a nice, long, hot bath.

At least, that was her plan, until they were surrounded by a bunch of Angemon. "Is there a problem?" she asked, probably not as nicely as she should have, considering the fact that they had surrounded her.

"There were a lot of our friends in the initial invasions of Yokohoma and File Island," one of the digimon said, scorn in his voice.

"And your point is?" Relena asked, her hand already slipping down to her digivice.

"You killed them!" Another shouted, and the five of them charged towards her.

Relena and V-mon both quickly evolved as far as they could and met the attacking Digimon head on.

.o0o.

Chika blocked a kick from Takeru with her leg at the same time she parried a punch from Ikuto with her arm. She didn't know if she should be flattered or annoyed that they had decided that a 'free-for-all' should be 'attack her', but she could seriously complain about it after they were done.

Takeru pulled his leg back and Chika stepped back on the ground, and at that moment Takeru decided to throw a punch, so Chika grabbed Ikuto by the arm and pulled him in the way of Takeru's punch.

Ikuto gasped as he staggered forward, Takeru's fist embedded in his back.

Chika wasted no time and ran towards Takeru, throwing her fist forward.

Takeru grabbed it with his other hand, pulling his hand away from Ikuto and stepping backwards, and the next thing Chika knew she was on the ground. She quickly got to her feet, but had to deal with Ikuto coming towards her and throwing a punch at her stomach. She moved to the side and grabbed his arm again, but this time when she tried to throw him to the ground his leg bumped into hers and sent both her and him sprawling to the ground again... and somehow, someway, landing on top of Takeru.

The three of them didn't move for several moments, and Chika was panting now; not all of it was from the sparring. The three of them being like this, she could barely even remember what they were doing before. It felt nice, it felt familiar...

Takeru's hands started moving along her stomach, and Chika shivered... and a memory, buried beneath everything that had happened in the last half a decade came back. The three of them, they had been in a similar position before, back when they were young teenagers. Back when they were practically kids, in fact, it had been during sparring, heck, they were even in the same order. Now all that was needed to complete what had happened back then was...

Ikuto's lips soon pressed against hers, and Chika wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him down closer to her. She moaned into his mouth when Takeru started kissing her neck as well. Chika suddenly shivered and broke away from both Ikuto and Takeru's lips, but she didn't bother trying to get Ikuto off of her. She didn't _iwant/i_ him off of her. "I can't believe..."

"Chika?" Ikuto asked, looking down at her, frowning. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Chika said softly, nodding. "It's just... I finally remember... no, I finally realized just how long this was going on."

Chika could feel Takeru's arms tighten around her waist and she wanted nothing more than to melt into both his and Ikuto's embraces. "What do you mean?"

"This was how I had my first kiss. Me and Ikuto. On top of you," Chika clarified, then giggled when she saw Ikuto blush. "It's just, I figured that when you guys just asked me to well... be like this, I thought it was that you two trying to settle for sharing when you just wanted to be with me alone. Or that you guys felt bad for me and wanted to try to keep me happy or something like that."

"Chika..." Ikuto began.

Chika moved her hand to put a finger to his lips. "No, I understand now. You two don't need to say it. The three of us is what you guys wanted the entire time. Competing with each other didn't even enter your minds, did it?"

Ikuto pressed down against her and moved his arms around her body, but she could tell that they were wrapped around Takeru also.

"No, it didn't," Takeru answered.

Chika closed her eyes and sighed, but there was a small smile on her lips. She really couldn't believe how stupid she had been, this entire time. She rolled to the side a bit, Ikuto only partially on top of her now, but she wasn't trying to get away.

She went and grabbed each of their arms, trying to bring them down closer to her, slowly moving her head closer to theirs and trying to plant a kiss on both of their lips at once.

She failed horribly, her lips not even being able to get there like that.

Takeru laughed, and rearranged themselves so that she was fully back in the middle of them, only now she was on her stomach, facing Takeru. "Sorry Chika-chan, but well... human faces are really designed for that," he said, right before pressing his lips against hers.

Ikuto moved closer to the two of them, his lips going to her neck.

Well, "sparring" soon became an euphemism for something else.

.o0o.

Relena smirked savagely at the five Angemon that were on the group now. Well, at the very least these guys were no match for her and Were Garurumon.

Of course, she and her partner were no match for Chika, and there was no way ever that these five would be.

One of the Angemon tried struggled to his knees, flecks of data bleeding out of gashes on his body. "Aren't you going to finish it...?" he asked slowly. Maybe she had beaten him up a little bit too much.

Relena devolved back to her human form at the same time that Were Garurumon turned back to V-mon. "No. For now, we're on the same side," she said, turning away. "Come on V-mon, we have some relaxing to do now." And with that, both her and her partner left the five Angemon behind.

"Did you really have to be that savage against them?" a familiar voice asked, full of scorn.

Relena rolled her eyes, turning her head to the side to see Izumi leaning against the wall of a building, dressed in a tank top and shorts combo that exposed her mid-drift for all to see. Relena frowned at her. "Probably not, but they attacked first. Besides, if you had enough time to watch the fight, you could've jumped in at any time."

"With those things?" Izumi asked. "Sorry, but well... they're kinda just as pissed with me and my friends as they are for you. Seems like they don't get the whole 'rogue faction' thing." Izumi stood up straight and started heading towards her now. "But don't get me wrong, I still don't like you, and I don't like that you're with Takuya."

Relena turned away. "Well, that's good then, since Takuya and I decided to stay friends for now."

"Oh really?" Izumi asked. "'Just friends', after what you were nearly seconds away from doing back on File Island?"

"How we acted on File Island is the whole reason I told him that's how it had to be in the first place!" Relena shouted, clenching her fists and turned around to face Izumi, glaring at the blonde. "We were just two stupid teenagers, and I figured that I could fool around with him and not have to worry about hearing about it again!"

"So you're admitting to using him then?" Izumi asked, her eyes narrowed now.

Relena so wanted to slap the other girl right now. "No," she said slowly. "I just figured that it would be nice to act like a normal teenage girl with a boy for once, instead of having to worry about what everyone on the base would say. Of course, you really should know what it's like, being adopted by the Three Great Angels and all."

Izumi glared at her. "Don't you even begin to compare yourself to me!"

Relena just huffed and turned around. "Honestly, I don't care what you think. I guess I might see you around the base, but don't worry, I'll keep from talking to you." And with that Relena and V-mon left the other woman alone, and Relena allowed herself a frown. After all, while she was helping the Virus Busters, including Takuya...

… it wasn't like she had any reason to trust any of them.

.o0o.

Chiaki was shaking, she had to get away, get help, and god, where was Teppei and the others. She had to do that now! This thing, whatever it was, it was going to...

There was a roar and Chiaki, despite being evolved into Ranamon, shivered. There was no way she could fight that thing. Screw asking for Teppei! Where was Takuya and Kouji!? At least they might have a chance at fighting this thing!

The dragon creature landed in front of her, letting out a roar as it's black armor gleamed in the moonlight. "Sorry babe, but I have strict orders here! No choice but to do this to a pretty little thing like you." A purple blade extended out of his arm, and the next thing Chiaki knew it was through her stomach.

Chiaki gasped, blood dripping out of her mouth as she coughed, feeling herself encased in her digicode... and she was normal, the Spirits of Water falling away from her body. "...Who... are..."

The digimon smirked, before glowing and revealing himself to be a young man with blonde hair. He was probably in his late twenties... and there was a ring in his lip... but she was starting to not be able to see, her vision glowing blurry.

"Heh, my name's Kouki," the man said, grabbing both sides of her face with his hands... and then she felt him twisting and there was a snap and....


	29. Intermission of Life

Chika felt like she was floating as she moved through the base camps mess hall... expertly avoiding some of the other soldiers and digimon around her. She couldn't help but smile constantly as she made it to a table where Takeru, Ikuto, Piyomon, and Falcomon were already sitting.

Takeru and Ikuto both flashed her a smile as she sat down across from the two of them.

"You're sure in a good mood today Chika," Falcomon said. "Did something good happen?"

Chika blushed and grabbed her chopsticks. "Yeah, you could say that," she mumbled, looking over at Takeru and Ikuto, who were starting to laugh now.

Chika saw Piyomon scowling at Falcomon out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him. "What's wrong Piyomon?"

Piyomon shook his head. "Nothing," he said, as he started to dig into his food... with all the grace that any digimon could have.

Chika giggled, and took a bite out of her eggs.

Takeru sighed. "We're acting a little too relaxed for what's been going on recently, aren't we?"

Chika blinked at him... and realized she still had a small sliver of egg hanging out of the corner of her mouth. She wiped it off with her hand. Maybe making fun of Piyomon, even if it was only in her head wasn't such a good idea.

Ikuto looked over at Takeru. "What's wrong with that?" he asked.

Takeru leaned forward towards them. "Everyone is staring at us. Rumors are going to start."

Chika finished her bite of food and looked around out of the corner of her eyes, trying to make sure it wasn't obvious. And Takeru was right, the other agents were staring at them. Although actually... chances are he was wrong. They weren't staring at them.

"It's me," she said, turning back to her food and taking another quick bite. "But if rumors are going to start... that might not be as bad a thing as you're thinking. Besides, chances are the most obvious of them will be true, right?"

"Chika?" Ikuto asked. "Is something wrong?"

Chika sighed. While she had told Takeru about her thoughts on this already, she hadn't mentioned it to anyone else yet. "I think... I'm going to quit DATS."

Ikuto's eyes widened. "But why!? You always wanted to be here, not on the sidelines!"

Chika shook her head. "No. I wanted to help. I didn't want everything to go to hell like it did without helping out as best I can. But DATS isn't a tiny thing anymore... I... I don't know how much longer..."

Ikuto frowned. "You're sure...?" he asked.

Chika nodded. "But I can't now, obviously. This thing here needs to end first, I..."

Piyomon suddenly nuzzled her side, and Chika put a hand on his head, while looking back over at Ikuto, who still didn't seem to be too happy.

The five of them finished their food in silence, and Chika was starting to wondering why she constantly screwed things up.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom-Magnum

Chapter 29: Intermission of Life

.o0o.

Relena didn't know why she was dragged out of bed so early this morning, or why the three of Takuya's friends were mostly glaring at her. Well, okay, Izumi glaring at her was normal, but the others... and where was Chiaki? Relena's eyes narrowed a bit. "What is this about?"

"Chiaki's dead," Takuya said, walking up from behind her.

Relena turned to face him, and seeing that look that was on his face, it stabbed through her chest. That scowl, all that anger... it was nothing like Takuya. Of course, that made sense, considering what had just happened... "Do you know who did it?"

Izumi sped forth... but was held back by Jumpei. "No, we don't. We were hoping you might have some idea," he said.

Relena stared at him. Of all the... "Why would I know anything about it?"

"Her spirits were missing," Kouji answered from his place leaning against a nearby wall, arms crossed over his chest. "There are few people who'd have any idea about those."

Relena blinked at him. "You mean you aren't fused with a digimon?"

"Don't act dumb with us!" Izumi shouted. "There's no way you could've honestly..."

"Relena, what's going on?" V-mon asked, walking over to them slowly.

Relena shook her head at him. "It's nothing, just go back to sleep. I'll tell you later, okay?"

V-mon yawned. "'kay..."

And with that he collapsed on the ground.

Relena fought back a smile and grabbed her digivice, pressing the button that had V-mon get put inside it. She then looked back over at Izumi. "Okay, tell me what the heck you're talking about!"

"You little... you think you'd even still be alive around here if you were a normal bio-hybrid!" Izumi shouted, breaking away from Junpei's grip and leaping at her.

Relena ducked out of the way, Izumi landing right where she was. She shook her head and turned to Takuya. "Okay, Takuya? Seriously, what the hell is she talking about?"

Takuya sighed. "Izumi, Relena obviously doesn't know."

Izumi glared at him, but didn't say anything as she went back over to Junpei, who wrapped am arm around her waist. Junpei looked over at her. "Well, Takuya and the rest of us aren't hybrid's due to being fused with a digimon's data. We... were kinda chosen by the spirits of Ancient Digimon back when the two worlds fused, given their power."

Relena blinked. That was weird, but okay. "And this has anything to do with me why?"

Takuya sighed. "There's something about you. About both you and Chika that's off about your hybrid forms. It's subtle, and only another hybrid would be able to pick up on it. It's like... you're fused with a spirit yourself."

Relena frowned, but that did make some sense. After all, her form was BioLighdramon... but V-mon was still around and just fine. But then... why would... She shook her head. "Okay... I guess I'll have to ask my grandmother about it later then, but since I obviously didn't know about me or you, there's nothing I can really tell you guys, is there?"

Izumi just glared at her, and Kouji sighed. "No, there isn't.

Relena sighed. "Okay, then, I'm going to head back to my room then if you're done."

And with that, she walked away from them, keeping to herself as she thought over what they said. It looked like she was going to have to step up with her training.

.o0o.

Yuka stretched as she and Tsukaimon waited for Makino-sensei to show up. After that little fight with Masaru yesterday, she was feeling great. Of course, there was the slight problem that she couldn't keep her eyes off of Ai, who was stretching in front of her. But that should be fixed in time, right?

Ai bent forward, her hands reaching down to her toes.

Yuka wasn't even trying to stretch anymore. Stupid lightswitched hormones.

Ai stood back up and turned to her, smirking and giggling.

Yuka stared, and then her eyes widened when she realized something. "You did that on purpose!"

Tsukaimon flew around the two of them as Ai burst into giggles.

Yuka turned around. She really didn't need the distraction....

… Ai's arms were around her waist now. Hi distraction!

Yuka saw Makoto just stared at the two of them. "I thought that you two... you called me a pervert of suggesting that!"

Yuka and Ai both glared at him, but Ai did pull away from her. This was going to be a little harder than she thought it was going to be.

Someone coughed nearby. Someone that wasn't the three of them or their digimon.

Yuka gulped and slowly turned around. "Hey... Makino-sensei..." she said, trailing off a bit as a glaring Makino-sensei was standing behind her. And she didn't look happy. At all. "Flirt on your own time!" she shouted.

Yuka nodded. "Yeah, got it."

Tsukaimon flew over to Yuka. "So what are we doing for training today?"

Makino-sensei grinned.... and Makoto let out a cuss. "Oh, trust me, you three are going to love this one."

.o0o.

Yuka did not like this training exercise.

She did not like being tied up. She especially did not like being tied to people and thrown in a cage at the bottom of a pit. Memories of when she and Relena had been captured by Ogremon... not too long ago was starting to come back now, and it was really annoying.

The other annoying part was being tied to Ai and Makoto, all three of them with their hands bound.

"How is this a training exercise!?" Makoto shouted right in Yuka's face. Why couldn't she have been tied with Ai's face near hers?

…

Okay, so Makoto's face being there was a very, very good thing. It meant they could possibly maybe manage to get out of this. Somehow.

Ai sighed. "We're supposed to break out and escape from the enemy camp, remember?"

Yuka sighed. Yeah, she remembered. Of course, this time the enemy wasn't a group of bandits... but Makino-sensei and their partners.

Their partners.

Makino-sensei was a bitch.

"Okay, so we've been completely stripped of weapons, tools, and our digivices. So how are we getting out of here?" Makoto asked.

Yuka growled, her digisoul flaring up as she tried to break through the bindings on her hands. Once she got rid of those at least she could maybe untie the rest. And leave Makoto here...

… nah, that last part would just be mean. And it didn't matter anyway, because the ropes around her wrist wouldn't budge at all. Of course, she really should've already known that, considering that Yuka had tried this already back when she had actually been kidnapped. Too bad there wasn't going to be a Chika-neechan this time...

… no. They were going to get out of this. On their own. No help.

"Ai, Makoto? Can either of you move your hands?" Yuka asked. She had the smallest inklings of a plan. They weren't gagged after all.

"Of course we can't!" Makoto shouted. "They're tied together!"

Yuka sighed. "I know that. I was asking if you could move them with your arms."

Makoto wiggled around, and Yuka felts his hands press against her leg. "Umm... I don't think I can," he said.

Yuka sighed. "Okay, Ai? What about you?"

"Hold on," Ai said, for pressing up against her back as she tried moving her arms.

Yuka blushed, and looked over at Makoto, seeing Ai's arms inching up behind his back. Come on, just a little...

Ai's arms made it up to Makoto's neck and the next thing she knew Makoto's lips were on hers , and Yuka kept repeating to herself in her mind that she was not going to kill Makoto for it. Considering that it was her girlfriend's fault and all.

Ai's hands slipped over Makoto's head and the boy pulled back from her, looking completely stunned, his eyes widened.

Yuka frowned. "Snap out of it!"

Makoto blinked. "Right! Sorry, I..."

Ai groaned. "Okay, yeah, my hands moved, but what does that help us?"

Yuka sighed. "Okay, now move your wrists down to my mouth. I'm going to try to gnaw through the ropes."

Ai didn't do what she suggested at all. "Yuka? Are you nuts!?"

Yuka smirked. "Yes. Now hurry up!"

Ai slowly lowered her wrists down to Yuka's mouth and she promptly began chewing at the rope, forcing herself to not gag as she did so. The rope tasted disgusting, but without a knife or anything it was the only option they really had.

A good while later Yuka pulled away from the rope... and it didn't look like her teeth had done much damage to it at all. "Damn it!" Yuka shouted.

Ai sighed. "Figured as much. If your digisoul couldn't break the rope then biting it probably wouldn't have done much good."

Yuka sighed. "Yeah, but teeth are sharp, arms aren't."

Yuka saw Makoto frown for a moment. "Ai, move your wrists here."

Ai did so, and pretty soon Makoto was biting the rope with his teeth.

"Mako! I already tried that!" Yuka shouted.

Makoto tugged on the rope... and Ai's wrists soon were free.

Yuka and Ai both stared at him.

Makoto let out a nervous smile. "The knot was facing me..."

Yuka groaned. "Couldn't you have mentioned that sooner?"

"Complain to my brother later, give me your hands!" Ai shouted.

Yuka did so, and Ai soon enough had the knot binding her undone. Yuka massaged her wrists, and soon went to work on Makoto's bonds.

Pretty soon all three of them had their hands free... now all they needed to do was their legs... and the rope that had them all together.

"Yuka!" Tsukaimon shouted as he and Ai and Makoto's Impmon came out of the shadows. "We're here to help you!"

Yuka smirked. "Oh don't worry, we're fine," she said as she moved her hands down to untie her legs.

Ai's Impmon frowned. "You didn't chew through them, right?

"'course we did," Makoto answered. "How else were we supposed to...."

Yuka didn't hear what Makoto was going to say, as her vision started going blurry... and Yuka realized what the taste she had found odd on the was.

Makino-sensei was a complete---

.o0o.

Yuka woke up to see Makino-sensei and Ai standing over her, a smirk on the adult's face. "Good news. You're dead."

"Then how were we supposed to get out of there!" Yuka shouted.

Makino-sensei sighed. "You three were supposed to realize that when you're captured sometimes is needed to wait for backup to come help you, and not do something stupid in trying to get out."

Yuka just glared and stood up. "So what, we're just supposed to wait until we die?"

Makino shook her head. "Here's the thing, if you were captured for whatever reason? Generally the forces who did it would keep you alive for a reason."

Yuka shook her head. "Screw that. That's completely stupid!"

And before Makino-sensei could say anything else, Yuka left, Tsukaimon following after her.

.o0o.

Chika checked over each of her weapons that she had, making sure everything was working alright. Even though she probably didn't need any of them anymore with her being able to become BioHolsmon, but it was a habit that she had never grown out of. After all, it wasn't like there weren't times when turning into BioHolsmon was just a stupid plan...

She shook her head, putting the last of her kunai away.

"Are you sure you're okay Chika-chan?" Takeru asked, walking up to her from behind her.

Chika frowned. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just... the three of us were finally happy, and then I went and screwed it up today."

Takeru shook his head and put a hand on his shoulder. "Chika-chan, you blame yourself for way too much, you know that."

She smiled, moving one of her hands to his and giving it a quick squeeze for a moment. "Umm... no I don't?"

Takeru shook his head... and pulled her closer to him.

"Takeru-kun! Didn't you earlier today..." she began, before resting her head on his chest for a moment, not giving a damn.

Takeru chuckled. "Maybe, but Chika? You need to talk to Ikuto about this more," he said, pulling away from her.

Chika frowned. "You... mean, about me deciding to stop being part of DATS?"

Takeru nodded.

Chika frowned and turned away from him, holding her hands to her chest. "It's just... he didn't seem happy about it, like he figured we'd both be part of this forever. And besides, I've thrown myself in fighting the past five years... just to hide. I... don't want to do that anymore, you know?"

"Of course I know that, but Ikuto doesn't," Takeru answered. "And I just can't tell him that. He thinks that you wanting to quit DATS is because you decided that you wanted to be with us, and that makes him think he's forcing you to go against what you want, where you belong."

Chika turned back to Takeru. "So, he thinks I belong in the army then? I... was never supposed to become a soldier. I never wanted to be a soldier."

"So, go tell him that," Takeru said. "Ikuto should be training a few of the newer agents right now, but he should be done with that soon."

Chika nodded. "Thank you, Takeru-kun," She said, moving closer to him and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Later..." And with that, she moved away from him, heading to where Ikuto was supposed to be, ignoring the stares from several of her fellow agents.

All that mattered was talking to Ikuto about how she felt. After all, what were the higher ups going to do at DATS? Discharge her? She was already planning on quitting.

It didn't take her long moving through the camp to find Ikuto finishing up a sparring match with a young recruit who Chika didn't recognize, while Falcomon fought with the recruit's digimon, which... kinda looked like a red Agumon.

Ikuto smiled at the recruit. "You did fine."

The recruit frowned. "You totally beat me."

Ikuto laughed at that. "Of course I did, I've been fighting my whole life," he said. "Now go take a break and rest. Who knows when we may have to fight again."

The recruit nodded. "Guilmon, come on."

The red Agumon like digimon ran towards the young man. "Is play time over?"

The recruit laughed. "For now."

With that, the recruit and digimon left.

Chika looked over at Ikuto. "Didn't really peg you as someone who'd be a good teacher."

Ikuto blushed. "I wasn't teaching anyone. I was just giving him someone to practice with." Then he frowned. "About earlier..."

"We need to talk about that," Chika said, walking over to him and grabbing his hand. "Come on, let's go get some privacy, okay?"

"What about rumors?" Ikuto asked as Chika started dragging him behind a tent.

"Who cares?" Chika said. "I... Ikuto. Look. This has nothing to do with me being with you and Takeru, but I am going to quit after this. This... fighting... isn't what I want to do. I never really wanted to do this. I'm not like you, not like Masaru-niichan. I don't like fighting." She bit her lip, hoping he would understand.

Ikuto frowned. "But then... why did you stay so long?" he asked.

Chika closed her eyes, leaning towards Ikuto a bit. Soon enough, his arms were wrapped around her. "It's just.... after everything that happened. I was running, trying to forget about it all. Fighting... Kurata and other things was the easiest way to do that."

"Chika..."

Chika shook her head. "Like I said, this isn't about you or Takeru at all. This is about me... not really belonging here. Mom and Masaru-niichan knew about it before I even started..." She opened her eyes and looked up at Ikuto, who was staring down at her.

"But what do you want to do then? What did you want to do?" Ikuto asked her, tightening his embrace.

Chika frowned. "I don't know anymore. I mean, when I was a kid I wanted to be a doctor. Then a teacher. Then a game designer. A mother. A cook. A writer. So many things, I could never really make up my mind. I'd... probably go back to school first, actually do some college school work as soon as I can. Try to find something."

Ikuto smiled, before briefly kissing her.

Chika didn't even have time to really kiss him back before his lips were already pulling away. She pouted at him. "Aww... I didn't even get a chance to really enjoy that!"

Ikuto laughed. "Well, we'll get that chance when we see Takeru later, right?"

Just then Takeru walked up to them, Patamon flying behind him. "... Wow, Chika, are you trying to get out of this before we liberate Yokohoma?" Patamon asked.

Chika and Ikuto broke away from each other and turned to stare at Takeru and Patamon. "You two... did anyone else?" she asked.

Takeru looked around. "It doesn't look like it, but either way we need to see Commander Yagami. Now."

Chika frowned and nodded, following after Takeru and his partner, making it to briefing room tent... where Piyomon and Falcomon already were. As were Commander Yagami and his Agumon, who seemed a lot smaller than Masaru-niichan's.

Patamon flew over to the commander. "We need to launch another attack on Yokohoma in the next few days. The remnants of the Nightmare Soldier's have already mobilized an attack and are headed there!"


	30. The Battle Recommences

Everyone around Relena was tense, and considering what had recently happened with Chiaki, she couldn't blame them at all. And what they had just found out about made everything all the worse. DATS about to launch another attack as they were... just waiting around the city hall.

Izumi glared at her, but Relena just ignored it. She didn't have the time or the energy to worry about it. Besides, their orders were simple, they were supposed to help defend the city while the main forces confronted DATS, in case anyone broke through the defense.

Which meant that she was going to have her chance to kill Chika... and probably fail just as easily nas before.

Relena clenched her fists, nails digging into her palm.

V-mon looked up at her, before hugging her, arms wrapped around her legs. He didn't say anything.

Relena let out a sigh and unclenched her fists. Now wasn't the time to be angry. Anger didn't help her kill Chika the last two times she used it, so it wasn't going to work. Not this time. She had to just focus on that and she should be good. Maybe.

As explosions started off in the distance, Relena knew it wasn't going to be long now.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 30: The Battle Recommences

.o0o.

Chika took a deep breath and entered the medical tent. Everyone turned to look over at her, including Miyako, who was resting in one of the beds. She took a deep breath and walked over to her friend, who had her wrist strapped to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Miyako frowned. "Good, considering you guys aren't letting me out of here," she said, tugging at the restraint that kept her tied to the bed. "Seriously, I'm an adult, you really can't keep me here against my will. I've done nothing to piss you off."

Chika sighed. "Miyako, you're pregnant and injured. You're lucky to still be alive, that could've gone much worse."

Miyako just glared at Chika. "Right, not like I haven't gone through worse."

Chika winced. "Even so, you should still just rest. We'll take care of everything and find Ken."

Miyako didn't let up with the glare and just yanked at her restraints again... before letting out a scream and a wince.

"Miyako!" Chika said, running up to Miyako's side. "You okay?"

Miyako nodded, her teeth clenched. After a few moments she relaxed, and leaned back in her bed. "Okay, okay, I see your point. Damn... that hurts..."

Chika frowned and grabbed the other woman in a hug for a moment, and then pulled away. "I'll be back soon."

Miyako smiled. "Alright."

Chika got up and left the tent. She noticed that Piyomon was standing near the entrance.

"You get through to her?" Piyomon asked, concerned.

Chika nodded. "Yeah. Or rather, her injuries did." She frowned a bit. "But still... we need to hurry. As soon as we're done with the Three Great Angels... there's still Relena and Hawkmon to deal with."

"Chika..."

Chika shook her head. "Nevermind. Come on Piyomon, we need to meet with Ikuto and the others."

And with that, the two of them headed to where Ikuto and the others would be waiting. The Three Great Angels were for some reason still in Yokohoma despite knowing that DATS was launching another attack soon.

This was probably going to be their last chance.

.o0o.

It had been at least an hour since the fighting had started, and so far Relena was just standing around where she was supposed to be, fist clenched around her digivice. Her head was darting back and forth all over the place, and Takuya and the others seemed to be doing the same. She had already evolved V-mon to Lighdramon, as being an adult didn't take as much energy as being an evolved Biohybrid did. He'd still be able to fight in that form after being in it for a couple of hours.

But so far, the fighting seemed like there wasn't going to be a chance of it spilling into the city proper. At least, from the Nightmare Soldier's anyway. "DATS hasn't moved yet," Relena said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Can't you think of anything else for a second!?" Izumi shouted. "The Nightmare Soldiers are attacking, and all you can think about is your revenge!"

Relena didn't even bother turning around. "Your point is? In case you didn't bother paying attention, Daimon Chika is here to kill your parents."

Relena heard Takuya and Junpei sigh. "Look, can't you too stop baiting each other for five seconds?" Takuya asked.

Relena turned to face him, seeing Tomoki, Junpei, Izumi, and Kouji looking over at her as well. Watching her. Like they didn't trust her.

Well, considering what it had seemed like they had done at the time? Relena didn't blame them. She wasn't really going to go out of her way for them. Takuya maybe, but otherwise?

"Fine, just as long as she does it too," Relena said, turning back around, resting her hand on Lighdramon's head... right as more explosions shot out... from the other side of the city.

From land.

That was either the Nightmare Soldiers having a second front or...

.o0o.

Chika charged forth, evolved into BioHolsmon, her beak tearing through a couple of Angemon like they were nothing. Garudamon flew over head, tossing another bird digimon down to the ground in front of her.

Ikuto threw his boomerang towards a group of attacking digimon, knocking them back as Ravemon flew forward, cutting his sword into a few of them.

Chika moved back, landing in front of Ikuto. "Get on!" she shouted.

Ikuto's boomerang flew back towards her and she ducked, watching out of the corner of her eye as Ikuto grabbed it out of the air. "You sure?" he asked. "What about Takeru?"

Chika looked around, but Takeru and Neo Devimon were nowhere in sight. "Where'd they go?" she asked... before being forced to jump out of the way of an attack by Commander Yagami's WarGreymon, which ended up sending a few Holy Angemon up in flames.

"I'm not sure," Ikuto said, looking around for anything else.

Chika sighed. "Looks like it's up to us then. Let's just hope he gets there in time, I'm not sure the four of us can take all three of them ourselves."

Ikuto nodded, and quickly climbed up on her back. If Chika had lips, for some odd reason she had the idea that she'd be smiling at this point, and she didn't know why. It's not like this was...

… yeah, she wasn't going to go there. Not now.

With that, Chika took to the sky, Ikuto wrapping an arm around her neck. "Ravemon, follow us!" he shouted.

Both Garudamon and Ravemon followed what he said, the two bird digimon flying around her, deflecting whatever incoming attacks that they could. Chika was firing beams out of her eyes at a nearly constant rate, and Garudamon was doing the same with his Shadow Wing attack.

It took them doing this for a while, but it seemed like they were finally going to have a chance at getting to the City Hall... when blasts of fire, lightning, more lightning, wind, light, and ice started speeding towards them. Chika managed to somehow weave through the attacks... only to end up nearly face planting onto the ground. She looked up, seeing Relena, evolved, along with at least half of the hybrids from File Island and Were Garurumon. All obviously ready to fight as hard as they needed.

Ikuto jumped off her without her mentioning anything, and Chika took to the sky again as Ravemon dove to the ground. "Garudamon!" Chika shouted.

Ardhamon fired off a blast of fire at her, but Chika spun through the air and avoided it, concentrating, glowing as power seemed to flow through her. "BioHolsmon!" she shouted, speeding towards Garudamon. There was no way she could afford to waste time here.

"Garudamon!"

More fire and lightning and shouts shot towards them, but Chika ducked through them, a blast of flame narrowly missing her back as she and Garudamon slammed together, light exploding around the two of them as Chika's every nerve felt flooded with euphoria.

"JOGGRESS EVOLVE!"

And with that, Chika and Garudamon ceased to be, and there was only Slash Angemon, staring down at the hybrids and perfect on the ground. They could tell that two of them were about Ultimate level in strength. Somewhat, but they should be easy enough for them to handle. "Ikuto. Ravemon," Slash Angemon said, swords forming around both their hands. "Keep going, we'll catch up after we deal with them!"

"But the Three Angels are too powerful for Ravemon to take on alone!" Ikuto shouted.

Slash Angemon charged forward, slashing their blades at the fire and light warriors, who went and ducked out of the way. "We don't have a choice!" they shouted. "If you two don't start the fight now they might escape!" The jogressed digimon broke away from the two hybrids as blasts of lightning, wind, and lightning sped towards them. "Now go!"

Ikuto and Ravemon sped off towards the city hall, while the yeti-like warrior of ice and tank-like thunder hybrid went to intercept him.

Slash Angemon didn't have time to cover them, as BioLighdramon and Were Garurumon charged towards them at the same time, lightning gathering around the hybrid. "Lightning Blade!" she shouted, slashing down at them. They blocked the blast with their blades, as Were Garurumon slashed down at their back with his claws, barely even managing to scrape against their armor.

Slash Angemon hit both digimon with the flat ends of her swords, sending the two of them flying back a bit. They didn't have time to rest however, as once again the fire and light hybrids were charging at them, the light warrior slashing down with them with his oversized blade. They blocked the strike with their swords, but that just let the warrior of fire blast them with a few blasts of flame, knocking them off balance a bit, the sword slipping from their blades, narrowly missing them and scraping against the ground.

They weren't going to have a better moment really, and Slash Angemon charged forward, using the flat of one of their blades to smack the light warrior in the stomach, sending him staggering back. Slash Angemon flew back, dodging more blasts of fire. "So... what exactly are your names' in those forms?" they asked.

The warrior of fire growled. "Like we have any reason to tell a traitor!" he shouted, sending more blasts of fire their way.

Slash Angemon batted them away with both of their blades, and let out a sigh. "It's a pity you're working for this misguided faction."

The warrior of light growled. "You're the misguided ones!"

Slash Angemon charged forward and slashed at the wolf-human digimon, their blade missing the light warrior's chest as he blocked with his own blade. "Really?" they asked. "Last I checked, DATS never destroyed nurseries or oppressed cities. What does that say about you guys?"

The warrior of light growled, but didn't answer. It looked like he was too busying trying to force their blade back. But Slash Angemon really didn't have the time for this. They needed to finish this up and go help Ikuto and Ravemon, hopefully the two of them had taken care of the other two hybrid's by now...

A blast of lightning hit them in the back, causing them to stumble forward a bit and letting the warrior of light slash at their chest. They let out a gasp, having actually felt that strike through the armor, even if it wasn't that threatening at all. They quickly ducked out of the way of another swipe and hovered back as Relena and Were Garurumon charged at them again.

Slash Angemon really didn't want to have to do something like this, but they were quickly running out of options. They turned their blades on the two digimon and charged forward, slashing at both with one quick strike.

The next moment seemed to take forever, but Relena and Were Garurumon both fell to the ground, barely moving. Those attacks wouldn't kill the two of them, but it would sure keep them away for the rest of this fight.

Slash Angemon turned their attention back to the other two hybrids, that Ravemon and Ikuto had managed to take care of the ice and thunder hybrids, the two of them laying on the ground unconscious with two statues laying next to them on the ground. They kinda looked like the forms that Slash Angemon had seen them in both at File Island and here, but Slash Angemon didn't have time to wonder about that. They were a little busy with...

A spike of wind slammed into their back, and Slash Angemon realized that there was more to worry about than just the two Ultimate-level hybrids. There was still at least one who was around the strength of a perfect flying around... and Slash Angemon didn't have time to fly up into the air to take care of her, as the warrior of light was charging at her again, swinging his blade.

Slash Angemon parried the blade and ignored the second blast of wind that slammed into their back. If they let the wind hybrid distract them enough the other two might be able to beat her. Why she wasn't doing anything at all before was anyone's guess, but they didn't have time to think about it. They were occupied enough just blocking the light warrior's slashes.

Blasts of fire and wind rained down from the sky, and Slash Angemon was forced to break away from the light warrior to avoid being hit. Of course the warrior of fire would've taken to the sky also, those wings weren't just for show, obviously.

They needed to end this. Now.

Slash Angemon took to the sky, their blades glowing as they crossed them in front of their chest as they sped into the air, dodging more blasts of air and wind from the bird-woman and armored digimon. "Holy Cross!" They shouted, parting their blades and sending out a golden cross wave of energy towards the general direction of the warrior of flame.

The warrior of flame was forced to block the strike, which left him vulnerable for a few seconds.

Slash Angemon charged forward, blades raised, truly sorry that they had to do this. Hopefully it wouldn't hurt him too much. All of these hybrids were just stupid kids... like she had been.

Slash Angemon flew over the warrior of flame, who was starting to regain his balanced and slashed down with their swords, slicing through part of the hybrid's wings.

The warrior of flame screamed and started to plummet.

"TAKUYA!" The bird-woman shouted, while Slash Angemon was sure they heard Relena scream the boy's name as well... but they didn't have time to think as the bird-woman flew down to grab the warrior of flame, as a beam of light shot at them from the ground, hitting them in the back. They quickly turned around to stare down at the warrior of light, who still had his blade extended at them.

Slash Angemon flew back down to the ground and readied their blades, even as the warrior of flame and wind crashed into the ground behind them.

This was almost done with.... now they just needed to finish dealing with the warrior of light.

Slash Angemon and the warrior readied their blades at the same time and charged forward.

.o0o.

Ikuto was starting to feel pretty suspicious about this place. So far they had been running through the modified city hall and there wasn't a single Virus Buster digimon present. It was almost like Relena and the others had been nothing more than to lure them here for some reason. Also, earlier the forces had seemed a little bit too focused for a battle against two fronts... "Something's wrong."

Ravemon stopped running and nodded. "I can tell also. But I don't know what exactly."

Ikuto stopped walking and gripped his boomerang. "You think we should wait for Chika and Piyomon?"

"No. They were right. If we don't at least start the battle now and distract them, they might escape," Ravemon said, hand resting on his sword.

Ikuto nodded. "Let's go then," The two of them started running again, making it into what appeared to be a large audience table... where both Ophanimon and Cherubimon were sitting on massive thrones, obviously added in to accommodate them.

"Noguchi Ikuto," Ophanimon said with a smile. "We've been expecting you."

Ikuto gripped his boomerang tighter. "You know why we're here then."

Cherubimon laughed. "Yes we do, but really, you aren't going to get a chance. Our forces are surrounding yours from DATS as we speak. Even if Slash Angemon finishes with our children, it won't be enough anyway. You should just give up now."

"We can't do that," Ravemon said. "You've invaded an innocent town and enslaved it's people. You're allied with Kurata, who's a menace to the entire world. Your plans of genocide cannot be allowed to pass, no matter what reason you use to justify it."

Ikuto heard clapping from behind him, and turned around to see Takeru walking towards them, Patamon resting on his head, massive sword dragged at his side. "Nice speech," Takeru said, as Patamon flew off into the air, hovering in front of Takeru.

"But you're missing a few points," Patamon said.

Ikuto just stared. "Takeru, you made it!" So far, so good.

Takeru smiled. "That I did, Ikuto-kun." Green digisoul flared to life around his body, spiraling around him like a cyclone, before condensing down into his body, flaring white as he slammed down on his digivice. "Digisoul Charge! Overdrive!"

.o0o.

Cherubimon smirked as Noguchi and Ravemon stared at Takeru and Patamon as the child digimon evolved... into their third member, Seraphimon.

Seraphimon turned towards both him and Ophanimon. "You two, just set back and watch. This is something that the four of us have to settle personally."

Cherubimon and Ophanimon both nodded. This was exactly what they had planned on when Seraphimon had come up with the plan to fake a Nightmare Soldiers attack to lure DATS into attacking.

Takeru raised his blade and pointed it at Ikuto. "Sorry about this, Ikuto-kun."

And with that, Takeru and Seraphimon charged at the still shocked Ikuto and Ravemon.


	31. Duel of the Fates

"You... what are...." Ikuto trailed off, moving to dodge a swing from Takeru as Seraphimon formed a sword made of light and slashed at Ravemon, who ducked under it.

Cherubimon watched this with interest. Noguchi Ikuto and Ravemon were noted to be a few of the top agents of DATS. Plus if there was any chance of Seraphimon actually losing the fight, he and Ophanimon could step in easily and finish it for him. Not that they were really going to need to do that of course, Noguchi and Ravemon were good, but nowhere near as good as Daimon Masaru, Touma H. Norstein, or other DATS agents.

"I think that should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Takeru asked, slashing down at Noguchi again, who blocked the strike with his massive boomerang, dark violet digisoul covering his body as he grit his teeth.

"But why!?" he shouted, pushing Takeru's blade back with a burst of digisoul and launching his boomerang at the blond haired man.

Takeru just ducked under the blade effortlessly and struck at Noguchi with the flat of his blade. "Because I've fought against the powers of darkness my entire life. Evil must be eradicated, no matter where it is."

Noguchi went stumbling to the ground even as Ravemon and Seraphimon slashed at each other with their blades. "What the hell kinda answer is that!?" Noguchi shouted, getting up to his feet and grabbing the boomerang.

Takeru laughed. "It's the truth, obviously," he said. "The real reason I 'retired' to being a teacher was that I couldn't stand to force Patamon in that unnatural transformation for my cover anymore."

Noguchi grit his teeth and ran towards Takeru again, swinging down with his boomerang.

Takeru slipped out of the way and threw a punch to Noguchi's stomach.

Noguchi grabbed the arm with his free hand and pulled Takeru closer to him, throwing a knee into the blond's stomach.

Takeru let out a gasp and stumbled backwards, only for Ikuto to swing his boomerang across the other man's side, sending him flying into a nearby set of seats.

Cherubimon smirked as Takeru got out of the rubble and Seraphimon broke his sword-lock from Ravemon, flying back and vanishing his sword as seven golden balls of energy formed in front of him. "Seven Heavens!" the blue angel shouted, the balls of light flying towards Ravemon, knocking him through a wall. Seraphimon just stared at the hole that the other ultimate had made for a moment, as if he were bored.

Cherubimon smirked. Even though he wasn't getting a chance to fight himself, this was entertaining enough that he didn't care.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 31: Duel of the Fates

.o0o.

Relena stared at Chika and Kouji as they fought... while she lay down on the ground, completely helpless and barely able to maintain her evolution. That bitch... she had taken them out with no effort at all. She knew that Chika was stronger as Slash Angemon, but even so! That was just...

"Were Garurumon, can you stand?" she asked, as she tried to make it to her feet. But she just collapsed on in a heap back on the ground.

"No," Were Garurumon answered, not even bothering to try it.

She turned her attention from Chika and Kouji's sword fight and looked over at her partner. His black fur was matted together, black specks floating out of his body, but not at a lethal rate at least. Which made sense, considering Chika had just been playing with her the entire time. Damn bitch...

And so far, Kouji was it. Ravemon had managed to defeat Tomoki and Junpei with little effort, and Chika easily did the same for Takuya and well... Izumi kinda defeated herself trying to help Takuya. She could see their spirit's laying in front of their prone, unconscious bodies.

Relena tried to stand again. Chika barely seemed tired, but she could tell that Kouji was struggling to keep up the evolution of Beowulfmon, each of his strikes against Chika were getting slower and slower, while Chika seemed like she was just ready to parry each strike. It was only a matter of time until Kouji lost, and it looked like Chika didn't want to waste the energy that she'd need to help Ikuto and Ravemon against the Three Great Angels.

At least Takeru and Seraphimon should be enough to take care of Chika, if only due to the shock of seeing him against her, against DATS.

But that was little help to her right now, since she had no way of helping Kouji. And considering what Chika had done to Takuya, what she had done to her father... she needed to do something.

Yet she couldn't move!

Chika apparently decided that she had enough, as Slash Angemon started going on the offensive with the sword strikes. Her blades battered against Kouji's as he was barely able to block her onslaught.

.o0o.

Taichi Yagami could tell that this battle was not going anywhere near as well as they had figured. There were too many Virus Busters forces in the area for the Nightmare Soldiers to be attacking at the moment. "War Greymon!" Taichi shouted as he punched a nearby Angemon in the chest, his body set ablaze with orange digisoul flickering around him.

War Greymon flew into the air, part of his armor broken off and his trademark claw gauntlets missing... if only because he had two Angemon grasped in his hands by the head as he flew... before slamming into the ground, causing chunks of pavement to spilt up to the ground, the Angemon smashing into against the concrete and dissolving into digieggs, leaving the Ultimate level digimon alone. War Greymon leaped over towards him, his gauntlets materializing around his fists as he quickly slammed the claws through two other Angemon, flinging their bodies behind them as they landed on the ground. "Taichi! Something here isn't right!"

Taichi nodded. "I've realized," he said, looking around at the bodies of his forces as they battled against the Virus Busters. Several of his soldiers who had survived the initial attack on Yokohoma were on the ground, unmoving with their partners either still fighting on or lifeless digieggs near them; Taichi couldn't really tell which, and that was what he hated about being this far up on the command chain.

As it was, the Virus Busters forces had this section of the city way too well defended for what they were expecting. Wherever Patamon had managed to get his information had obviously been a trap.

"Fall back!" Taichi shouted to any nearby agents. "We need to get to regroup and get to a better position to attack!" He hated to do that, but even so, at the rate things were going, they weren't going to be able to hold this that much longer.

Of course, just as he said that, several Gizmon appeared suddenly, and it got worse. Much worse.

.o0o.

Relena somehow managed to bring herself to her feet, growling as she readied her lighting around her body, ignore how her body burned and screamed to just pass out. "Blue Thunder!" she shouted, sending off a bolt of lightning over at Slash Angemon.

The blast didn't even do anything, she just kept focusing on Kouji, swinging her blades down at him.

Relena growled again. If she didn't do something soon, Chika was going to kill most of them, most likely. She certainly wasn't too concerned about the safety of Takuya.

She wasn't going to let that happen. She had already lost her father to her. That was enough. This wasn't going to happen. "V-mon! We have to stop this!"

Were Garurumon groaned, struggling as he stood up to his knees. "I'll... stand by you..." he said with a whisper.

Relena's heart felt like it was had been stabbed at that, looking at how much he had been hurt. And still he was willing....

Relena nodded at Were Gaurumon. "Let's go then..." And with that... something started feeling... not wrong, but there was a growing heat in her chest, no, her body. Something she had never felt before.

It took her a few moments to realize that both she and Were Gaurumon were glowing.

And then... it happened.

.o0o.

Slash Angemon slashed down with their swords, knocking the warrior of light's sword out of his hand and finishing it with a slash to his chest. The warrior's body started to break apart into strands of that strange digisoul as a teenager fell to the ground. Two white objects clattered onto the ground in front of the boy. So... those were the spirits. They looked so... ordinary up close.

Of course, Slash Angemon soon realized that they had bigger problems when there was an explosion of light behind them, along with a shout of "Jogress Evolve!" The Ultimate quickly turned around and turned to see... a black, armored wolf with a giant cannon on its back in place of both Relena and Were Gaururumon. "Z'd Gaururmon!"

If Slash Angemon didn't know they were going to have to fight it, they almost would've been proud of them.

Of course, immediately after that, the new ultimate digimon charged straight for them, letting out a large, powerful blast of energy from its mouth. "Blow Back Breath!"

Slash Angemon crossed both of their blades across their chest, but the force of the blast of energy still sent them staggering backwards. They slashed their swords down, causing the energy to dissipate into the air. Things weren't done yet here. Not at all. "Relena!" they shouted, slightly pained. That attack was greater than they had been expecting.

.o0o.

Z'd Gaururmon couldn't believe the power that was pulsing through them. It was... amazing. It felt like a constant stream of energy was constantly pumping through their body. And that attack... how Slash Angemon was staggering backwards. They had actually made Chika have to try.

Chika had to try...

Z'd Garurumon wasn't going to waste any time with replying to what Slash Angemon said. While they were stronger than they have ever been, Chika and Piyomon have had years to use this form. They couldn't afford to mess this up. Not now, not if they wanted to protect Takuya and the others. They readied the several guns jetting out of their body, staring down at Slash Angemon. "Full Metal Blaze!" they shouted, firing almost every gun they had at once.

Except for the large cannon on their back, all of her weapons fired in a cloud... all of it focused on Slash Angemon. The angel quickly ducked out of the way, flying up into the air briefly to avoid her blasts before landing on the ground again.

Z'd Garurumon wasn't going to have any of that, and fired their weapons off at Slash Angemon again. This time Slash Angemon flew into the air and stayed there, flying in the position of a cross for a moment, light gathering around Slash Angemon's body, forming a giant cross of light.

Before Z'd Gaururmon even knew it, Slash Angemon was flying back and then spinning forward into a cross... and a massive blast of light was speeding towards them, way too fast for them to have been able to jump out of the way of the blast.

Z'd Garurumon did the only thing they could do. "Z'd Cannon!" they shouted, firing a blast from their massive cannon that sent them almost pushing against the ground with its recoil, sending out a strong blast of light that collided with Slash Angemon's. But the blast was smaller, and while the blast did collide against Slash Angemon's, it looked like it was going to be overwhelmed by it, and Slash Angemon's blast would keep heading towards them.

Z'd Garurumon moved out of the way right as they were proven wrong and the two blasts exploded. They broke into a run. No reason to give Slash Angemon a chance to speed at them through the smoke from the explosion. They couldn't afford to take any hits. If they did, they were most likely done for.

They couldn't risk it, but even so, Z'd Garurumon couldn't see Slash Angemon. Where did that angel go to? Z'd Garurumon blindly fired most of their weapons into the air through the smoke to be safe and kept running... right as Slash Angemon's sword collided with the ground where they were standing, but this time it was different. Instead of two blades Slash Angemon was holding a single massive sword.

Slash Angemon turned to them and flew forward, sword ready to strike.

Z'd Garurumon fired their massive canon again and jumped out of the way when Slash Angemon slashed down and cut the blast in half. They bit back a curse and found themselves having to dodge another slash from the ultimate level angel digimon. They fired most of their weapons at Slash Angemon again and ran as far as they could to the side, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Slash Angemon as they could.

But even then, all Slash Angemon did was just fly towards them again, the angel's blades splitting back into two as it charged at them.

Z'd Garurumon fired their cannon again, and just got the same result as the last time, Slash Angemon's blades cutting through the attack. They knew that at this rate they were going to lose, the couldn't fire off many more blasts at that level of power. It just wasn't possible, they could tell they were running out of energy.

Slash Angemon kept speeding towards them, and Z'd Gaurumon wasn't able to dodge the strike this time, the flat of one of Slash Angemon's blades smacking them in the head, sending them staggering around. "Relena, V-mon. Stop this now," Slash Angemon commanded.

Z'd Garurumon growled. They weren't going to give up just yet. There had to be some way that they could beat Slash Angemon, some weakness that the other ultimate had. There just had to be!

Slash Angemon frowned. "Don't you realize where this revenge thing is going to lead you!"

Z'd Gaururmon growled and ran forward, firing off most of their weapons again.

Slash Angemon ducked out of the way of the attacks, but that was fine, they weren't expecting them to have actually hit or done anything... but it did get Slash Angemon away from them, gave them time to think.

But it wasn't enough time, as Slash Angemon was already speeding back towards them, blades extended and ready to slash, this time with the actual blade end of the swords. Maybe if they...

No, Z'd Garurumon jumped to the side as Slash Angemon got closer. Firing off the main cannon as Slash Angemon flew towards them wasn't going to work, the attack would just get cut in half again. But unless it was fired at extremely close range there was nothing that they were going to be able to do much if any damage to Slash Angemon. They needed a distraction, something that would allow them to get close and...

Several Gizmon and the familiar face of Mephismon suddenly appeared. "Attack now!" Mephismon shouted, and the Gizmon did, firing their deletion beams at Slash Angemon.

Slash Angemon broke of its attack and switched attention to the several attacking war machines, stabbing a blade through two of them as it started flying towards them.

Mephismon flew over towards her. "You're Norstein, right?" he asked, but Z'd Garurumon could tell that he already knew for sure.

Z'd Garurumon nodded anyway.

Mephismon smirked. "Leave the rest of this to them. Slash Angemon will be done for before you know it. And after this, you can finally go back to the base."

Z'd Garurumon snarled, although now that they were there, Slash Angemon...

Daimon Chika would be done for.

But then again, it wasn't like Gizmon had that great a track record against Ultimate level digimon...

Slash Angemon landed on the ground, blocking a deletion laser from a Gizmon with its two blades... and its back was completely exposed to them. While Slash Angemon was fighting the Gizmon...

Z'd Garurumon snarled. "No. We're ending this now!" they shouted, running forward as fast as they could go, ignoring the shocked shout of "RELENA!!!" from Mephismon, not even caring that he had used her first name, or that he actually seemed worried.

That didn't matter.

Slash Angemon...

There was an opening.

They were going to take it.

Z'd Garurumon's legs were burning now, but they weren't going to let that stop them. Not yet. They'd have plenty of time to rest once this was done with.

Slash Angemon turned to face them, mouth wide open as they charged at it.

There was no way that Slash Angemon was going to be able to dodge this blast. No way in hell. Z'd Garurumon poured all the energy they could into this next blast. If this didn't work...

No.

"**Z'd CANNON!" **They shouted, as the fired their biggest blast yet at Slash Angemon, the energy slamming into the angel digimon's body at point blank range.

It was over so quickly. One moment Slash Angemon was there, and the next it was flying through several buildings before there was a massive explosion throughout the city, vaguely reminding them about a mushroom cloud... not even an Ultimate digimon couldn't survive that, could they?

In the next moment though, Relena and V-mon were separated, the small digimon falling to the ground, panting as he lay on his back. Relena fell to her knees. Had they.... had she...?

Mephismon flew over to them for a moment, before looking over at the Gizmon. "All of you, collect the discarding spirits and capture these Virus Buster forces."

The Gizmon started doing their orders without complaint... obviously. Mindless machines did that.

But Relena was no machine. "What's going on!?" she shouted, trying to stand.

"Orders are orders Norstein," Mephismon said. "Besides, these fools can't be trusted with that power. After today, the Virus Busters are finished. Go get some rest. I'm going to go after Daimon."

"Like that's even necessary," a coarse voice said from the sky, flying down towards them. "After all, with these kids Spirits, we have all ten sets. We don't need the data shoved into Daimon's baby sister anymore."

Relena barely gave Bio Darkdramon a look. "What do you mean orders!?"

"If you're that upset about it, then ask that grandmother of yours later," Mephismon said, before turning to Bio Darkdramon. "And this is less about regaining possession of the Digimental of Love than about making sure that Daimon is dead. Left alive she and Piyomon are just as much of a threat to us as Masaru and Agumon are."

And with that, Mephismon took to the sky and headed in the direction of the explosion.

.o0o.

Cherubimon couldn't believe it, but with how long Ravemon and Seraphimon's fight had been going on... he was starting to get bored. He turned over to Ophanimon. "This fight's gone on too long. Something is not right here..."

Ophanimon nodded. "But what could it be," she whispered.

At that next moment several Gizmon burst into the chamber and started firing at everything. Cherubimon barely managed to fly off of his perch before getting blasted by one of their beams.

Ophanimon wasn't so lucky, the beam slamming into her face and bursting through her head before she could even blink, and in the next moment she was dissolving into data before his eyes.

Cherubimon could only stare.

"This wasn't part of the plan!" Ravemon shouted as he and Seraphimon stopped fighting and began concentrating on the Gizmon, which got Cherubimon's attention. Plan? What did that...

Before Cherubimon could think anything else, a deletion laser burned through his skull and...


	32. Burst the Limit

Ikuto ran back to Takeru as the Gizmon swarmed around them. "I thought the Nightmare Soldiers were supposed to give us the distraction to stop Ophanimon and Cherubimon!" he shouted, grasping his boomerang and throwing it at a Gizmon that was set to fire on Ravemon.

Takeru let out a growl. "Obviously Agatha Norstein's forces were even less trustworthy and Ophanimon and Cherubimon assumed." He said.

Ikuto grabbed his boomerang as his digisoul flared across his body. "... Norstein? Touma's..."

"You mean Commander Satsuma didn't tell you?" Takeru asked. "That just... nevermind, we'll deal with it later. We don't have the time to be distracted now. Seraphimon! Make sure your armor isn't breached by their attacks, but defend Ravemon as best you can!"

"You didn't have to tell me that!" Seraphimon shouted, before gathering energy in front of his body. "Seven Heavens!" he shouted, firing off the balls of energy towards a nearby Gizmon, who tried to fire at Seraphimon with its deletion laser, but the blasts hit it before it could finish charging. The artificial digimon exploded like so many had before.

Ikuto ran forward and jumped into the air, swinging his digisoul covered boomerang at the nearest Gizmon, managing to knock off one of its legs. Before it had a chance to do anything else, Ikuto threw the boomerang at the machine's eye. The weapon gent straight through.

Ikuto blinked. For the Perfect-level model of Gizmon, these things were really... weaker than usual. Like Kurata had been putting even less energy into producing the things than he usually did. "Does something seem wrong about these things to you?" Ikuto asked Takeru.

Takeru ran across and jumped into the air, throwing a punch at a Gizmon and knocking it back. "They probably mass-produced these ones for the invasion!" he shouted as Ravemon flew forward and stabbed the Gizmon through the eye with his blade, destroying it.

Ravemon was forced to then dodge the blasts of another two Gizmon... which Seraphimon jumping in the way of a third blast, letting out a pained sound a bit, charging up more energy. "Seraphimon!" Ravemon shouted as he moved out of the way. "Don't do that you idiot!"

"I'm fine!" Seraphimon shouted, thrusting his arms forward. "Seven Heavens!" he shouted, seven balls of light speeding off in the direction of the Gizmon, each ball speeding off into a different direction, slamming and exploding against a different Gizmon, the data scattering all over the place.

But that still left three more of those things to take care of...

But as Ravemon landed in front of him, Ikuto knew that wasn't going to be for long. Ravemon's white wing extended as he flew forward, speeding towards the nearest Gizmon and diving under the beam that it fired at him. "Blast Wing!" he shouted, slashing towards the Gizmon's body with wing, cutting the bipedal war machine in half.

Before anything else could happen, Ravemon pulled his sword out of its sheath and threw it towards another Gizmon, piercing it through its eye as it turned towards him. Both Gizmon dissolved into data, Ravemon's sword harmlessly clattering against the ground.

Seraphimon charged forward, throwing a fist at the remaining Gizmon. The machine slammed into the nearby wall. The angel only pulled its hand away for a second... only to throw his fist at the thing again, repeatedly punching it into the wall, pieces of purple metal cracking and falling off of the artificial digimon's body.

After a decent amount of punches Seraphimon moved back a bit, firing a Seven Heaven's attack point blank at the creature. There was practically nothing left as the force of the blast sent the thing through the wall as it exploded.

Seraphimon and Takeru turned towards Ravemon and Ikuto. "Well... they did do our job for us," Takeru commented. "But even so... that was way too easy."

There was then laughter from behind them, and everyone turned to see a cyborg dragon standing behind them. One who's dark armor and laughter was very familiar to Ikuto. "You!" he shouted, clenching his fists.

Bio Darkdramon just smirked. "Yes. Me. Kinda sucks that we did you DATS people a little favor, but I'll deal with it." He stepped closer to them, laughing some more. "And too bad about Daimon's little sis, but Norstein's kinda already took care of her for us, which just leaves you too."

And with that, Bio Darkdramon charged towards them.

Ravemon screamed and met the charge, swinging at Bio Darkdramon with his blade.

The sword just hit the armor, and Bio Darkdramon laughed. "Really? That's all you were planning to do?" Almost as if to prove his point, the bio-hybrid causally tossed Ravemon into a wall. "Heh, this seems to almost always happen with you, doesn't it?"

"You know nothing about me!" Ravemon shouted, climbing to his feet.

Ikuto clutched his digivice and turned towards Takeru. "Takeru! You and Patamon get out of here and check on Chika and stop Kurata's other forces in the city!" He shouted. "Ravemon and I will take care of this!"

"Alright!" Takeru shouted. "Seraphimon! Let's go!"

Bio Darkdramon laughed. "Oh, like Ravemon alone is really going to be able to stop me!"

Ikuto smirked as his digisoul burst to life around his body. "Charge!" He began, running his hand over his digivice. "Digisoul BURST!"

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 32: Burst the Limit

.o0o.

Ravemon wasted no time, charging at Bio Darkdramon as Ikuto's power flowed through his body, his jumpsuit bleaching white as everything seemed to go on fire inside him.

But for some reason, despite Seraphimon and Takeru leaving the room, Kouki didn't seem worried about this at all. "Gigastic Lance!" the hybrid shouted, rushing forward, white feathered wings flapping as he thrust his arm with the spear towards Ravemon.

Ravemon ducked out of the way, extending his arms forward and speeding into Kouki's side, wings glowing dark purple. "Lightning Flash Stab!" he shouted, vanishing only for the next moment to slam into Bio Darkdramon's side and send him flying through a wall.

Ikuto smirked. Kouki had no idea what he had gotten into this time. "Ravemon! Finish this quickly! We don't have time to waste with him!"

Ravemon nodded and flew in the direction that Bio Darkdramon had gone flying.

Kouki just picked himself off of the ground and laughed. "That's it? That's Burst Mode?" He laughed. "I can't believe it. All this time, all this planning, near needless!"

Ravemon just sent a blast of violet energy towards the hybrid, which sent him flying through another wall. "You can say that all you want, but your power is little more than what it was when you lost to Masaru ten years ago!" the ultimate shouted.

Kouki just picked himself off the ground again. "Maybe so, but it's still enough to take care of this!" With that, a large black sphere of energy shout out of the hybrid's mouth and sped towards Ravemon. "Dark Roar!"

Ikuto's eyes widened. "Ravemon!" he shouted.

Ravemon just stood still as the blast collided with him and exploded... but Ikuto soon saw that he had no reason to worry about his partner. Ravemon stood unharmed in the smoke from the blast, purple energy shining brightly around his wings.

Bio Darkdramon stepped back. "What? That's impossible! You... that still should've hurt!"

Ravemon chuckled. "You didn't get what I meant, did you? That power, that false power given to you by Kurata, you can't grow at all. While Ikuto and I..." Violet light started glowing around Ravemon's wings again, shining brighter than before. "Have increased our power throughout this entire decade!" And with that, Ravemon sent a massive blast of energy at Kouki.

Kouki screamed as the blast collided with him, sending him flying back into yet another wall.

Ikuto walked up to Ravemon. "You think he gets it yet?"

"NO!" Kouki screamed as he got to his feet, his tail smashing against the ground. "I WON'T ACCEPT DEFEAT! I'LL... I'LL DESTROY YOU AND SETTLE THIS WITH MASARU ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Ravemon just scoffed. "How do you expect to do that?" he asked, firing another blast of violet energy towards Kouki.

A wild torrent of artificial digisoul suddenly burst to life around the hybrid as the blast hit, the light of Ravemon's attack spreading out all over the place as Kouki let out a massive, loud scream.

"What... is that?" Ikuto asked, grasping his boomerang.

Ravemon just stared as Kouki let out a laugh.

"You... didn't really think that Kurata would let his work stagnate over the last decade, did you?!" the hybrid cackled, his armor turning completely jet black, as did his wings, while the lance on his arm started glowing with a sickly purple light.. The feathers on the wings moulted completely and turned to black flame as he let out a scream. "Now! Feel the WRATH of MY BURST MODE!"

Ravemon stood back as the digisoul exploded around the hybrid, fading from view... before Bio Darkdramon was speeding towards him. The ultimate grabbed out with his clawed hands, but found himself unable to hold the hybrid back, his body started sliding backwards. Ravemon's talons clawed into the ground, but it was no use as he was still pushed back. "This power? It's..."

Kouki smirked and opened his jaws. "Dark Roar!" he shouted... and a blast of dark energy instantly shot out of his mouth.

Ravemon went flying through the same wall that Kouki had gone flying through moments before.

Ikuto looked around, the walls of the city hall were shaking now. "Ravemon! We need to get out of here. The building isn't going to survive this fight!"

Ravemon got to his feet and charged towards Kouki. Either not hearing Ikuto or not caring. The bird-man digimon sent one of his arms flying towards Kouki's head. The cyborg just smirked and ducked out of the way, slamming at Ravemon's abdomen with one of his arms.

Ravemon let out a gasp of pain and staggered backwards.

Kouki chuckled... then flat out started laughing like a maniac. "Oh god. THIS POWER! Why do you fools not bother with this!? If you had used this all along THERE WOULD'VE BEEN NO WAR LEFT TO FIGHT!"

And with that, Bio Darkdramon flew up into the air, launching a blast from his mouth that caused a massive hole in the ceiling to form and flew out of it.

The entire place was rumbling now. "Ravemon!" Ikuto shouted, moving over to his partner. "We need to get out of here now!"

Ravemon nodded, grabbing Ikuto by the waist and taking to the air, flying through the building's ceiling as it collapsed entirely.

Ikuto looked around, seeing Kouki flying away from them. "After him! We don't know what he's planning on!" he shouted. And this really didn't make any sense. It wasn't like Ravemon had done anywhere near enough damage to them to make Kouki need to escape, so what was he planning?

It didn't take them that long to find out just why Kouki was running. The hybrid sent multiple blasts of his black energy all over the city, the beams of energy causing explosions everywhere. The sounds of explosions and screams... from people, digimon, as he was firing at everything in sight. "Ravemon! We need to stop him!"

Ravemon didn't say anything, but as far as Ikuto was concerned he didn't have to. Kouki couldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else, that's all there was to it.

"Ikuto!" Takeru shouted as Seraphimon flew up to Ravemon. "We're in trouble, the majority of both DATS forces here and the Virus Busters have been destroyed by Kurata's Gizmon!"

Ikuto cursed. "That means it's up to the six of us to take care of Kouki! Where's Chika and Piyomon?!"

"No idea!" Takeru shouted. "But we can't afford to wait around for her to show up again! Seraphimon, take Bio Darkdramon out!"

"You really don't have to tell me that!" Seraphimon exclaimed, moving his arms in front of his body as seven golden balls of light appeared in front of his hands and sped towards Bio Darkdramon's back.

Bio Darkdramon fired another blast towards the city below, causing a building to explode and cave in when Seraphimon's attack slammed into him. He staggered forward a bit.. But Seraphimon could tell it was nowhere near as effective as it should've been.

Bio Darkdramon turned towards them, and Ikuto heard Takeru let out a gasp. "That's... he... a hybrid... Burst Mode?"

"No," Ravemon shouted, stopping his flight as Kouki flew towards them. "This is what Shine Greymon first used ten years ago!"

"That can't be!" Ikuto shouted. "Kouki's still too... Kouki!"

"Gigastic Lance!" Kouki shouted as he charged at them, thrusting with his lance arm.

Seraphimon and Ravemon both ducked out of the way, but if anything that just seemed to make Kouki more excited. Bio Darkdramon started laughing and pointed the lance at Seraphimon again. "Gigastic... Laser!" he shouted, a sickly purple beam of energy shooting out of the lance and slamming into Seraphimon's armor. Seraphimon went speeding towards the ground.

"Takeru! Seraphimon!" Ikuto shouted as Ravemon headed down to the ground to avoid a second blast from the hybrid, landing on the ground next to Seraphimon who had managed to land on his feet. Ravemon quickly bent down and put Ikuto on the ground, while Takeru jumped off of Seraphimon's back.

"You two need to stop him, now!" Takeru shouted. "We can't let that amount of power go unchecked any longer than we already have!"

Ravemon and Seraphimon stared up at Kouki. "You going to be able to cover me?" Ravemon asked.

Seraphimon snorted. "I think that'd be a little too easy for me to do."

Ravemon bent down, preparing to fly back towards Kouki. "Well, unless you have access to a Burst Mode, that's probably going to be all that you can really do."

"In case you forgot... I was holding back against you," Seraphimon counted, stretching his golden wings. "Did you honestly think I could've gotten my position in the Virus Busters with just that power I was throwing your way?"

Ravemon chucked a bit. "Well, you're just going to have to show me then, won't you?"

And with that, both Seraphimon and Ravemon took to the air, flying back towards Kouki.

Ikuto just stared for a few moments, before turning back towards Takeru. "We should go find Chika," he said, pretending to ignore what he just saw.

Takeru nodded. "Yeah, there's not more we can do in this fight."

And with that, the two of them ran off, leaving the battle to their partners.

.o0o.

Ravemon growled as he flew towards Bio Darkdramon, grabbing his sword out of his sheath as he charged forward, taking a swing at the hybrid's neck.

Bio Darkdramon just laughed and blocked the swing with the armor on his arm, knocking Ravemon back. But that was fine by Ravemon, that attack wasn't meant to hurt anyway.

Seraphimon charged towards Bio Darkdramon's from behind, his arm pulled back, fist glowing with golden light. "Divine Breaker!" he shouted, thrusting his arm forward into Bio Darkdramon's back and releasing the energy point blank. The energy exploded, sending Bio Darkdramon hurling towards the ground. "Don't give him time to react!" the angel shouted, already preparing another attack.

Ravemon didn't need to be told twice. Takeru was right. This guy needed to be stopped. Ravemon's wings extended, power flowing off of the feathers. "Unmatched Soaring Wings Formation!" he shouted, sending off a beam of purple energy from his wings towards Bio Darkdramon.

Seraphimon reached out towards the sky and then threw his arm towards Bio Darkdramon. " Ascension Hallow!" he shouted, a massive sized bolt of lightning shooting down from the sky.

Both attacks slammed into Bio Darkdramon and sent him flying into the ground, where there was a massive explosion. Ravemon would've felt bad about that, but with how much damage the city had already taken in its invasion earlier and from Kouki's blasts... chances are there already wasn't enough of Yokohoma left for them to even worry about the city ever being able to return to normal. Hopefully the citizens were able to evacuate when the fighting started.

Of course, Bio Darkdramon let out a scream and flew out of the smoke from the explosion. "Dark Roar!" he shouted, firing off a black blast of energy as he sped towards the two of them.

Seraphimon fired off a Seven Heavens attack, while Ravemon sent another beam of purple energy at Bio Darkdramon, both attacks colliding with the Dark Roar and causing an explosion.. Bio Darkdramon quickly flew through the smoke and thrust his arm towards Seraphimon, while hitting Ravemon across the face with his tail, cackling madly. "You'll never defeat me! The two of you are completely worthless!" he shouted, savagely attacking Seraphimon with his lance arm, cracking through the armor of the angel's body.

Seraphimon went flying back a bit, but managed to say in the air and speeding right back towards Kouki, golden light swirling around his fist as he threw it forward and hit the hybrid in the jaw.

Ravemon had already straightened himself and fired off another wave of energy, slamming it into Kouki's back and knocking him to the ground. He then did something really stupid and looked over at Seraphimon, who was breathing heavily now, a few specks of data floating out of the large crack in his armor. "You alright?"

"I'm fine!" Seraphimon shouted, clutching his chest, hand placed over the crack. "We're supposed to stop him, remember!"

At that moment a black blast of energy sped up from the ground and only barely managed to miss the two of them. Ravemon let out a growl and turned his attention back down to Kouki, who was speeding back up towards them, cackling madly.

… And then he suddenly stopped, the flames coming out of Bio Darkdramon's back fading out as the hybrid started hyperventilating, data flying off of his body. "What's... going..." Kouki panted, the data flowing away from him faster now.

Pretty soon, there was nothing but a human and a Digiegg where Bio Darkdramon had been... both of them falling to the ground. Seraphimon grabbed the egg out of the air.

Ravemon grabbed Kouki, who's hand had stopped clutching his chest, eyes closed shut.

It took Ravemon a few moments to realize that he wasn't breathing.

Ravemon and Seraphimon both landed on the ground, where Ravemon placed Kouki down gently. He turned back towards Seraphimon as his bodysuit darkened from white to black, while Seraphimon devolved to Patamon... while holding the Digiegg that had been part of Kouki.

Ravemon grabbed both of them before Patamon crashed into the ground. "You think we should leave it here?" Patamon asked.

"No," Ravemon said. "Doing that is just asking Kurata to use it again."

Of course, now they had to go find their partners quickly before anything else happened to them.

.o0o.

Ikuto could tell that Kouki was done with when he stopped hearing the massive roars and screams behind him, but at this point he had no idea if they should even go back to wait for them or not.

"Keep going," Takeru said, keeping up with him. "Patamon and Falcomon will be able to find their way back to us on their own, but we need to find Chika and regroup. Figure out what we're doing and what all this means."

Ikuto frowned, but didn't say anything. He knew he and Falcomon had a connection, but the way that Takeru made it seem was like that was a given part of it. If he was right...

… that'd just be one thing that annoyed Ikuto about him. He was just glad that at this point it was the only thing.

Ikuto shook his head and kept going. "You're sure they said that Chika went flying this way?" he asked.

"For the last time, yes!" Takeru shouted.

Ikuto frowned again... and stopped running when he saw the massive crater. There was rubble from the street and buildings littering the bottom of it, along with pieces of metal that used to be cars.

And the three figures in the center of it... Chika, Piyomon, both of them laying on the ground... and a large, black demon digimon.

Both Takeru and Ikuto wasted no time with getting down into the crater, preparing the completely stupid act of trying to fight off a perfect without their partners with them. And then Chika started laughing bitterly. The shock was enough to make both Takeru and Ikuto stop running for a moment.

"I..." Chika began, sitting up slightly, clutching at her chest. "I'm... alive.... and..."

"Chika!" Ikuto shouted, running over to her and turning to glare at Mephismon, clutching his hand into a fist, violet digisoul gathering around it.

"All this... I..."

Mephismon just stared down at her. "Chika. Pull yourself together and hand over the Digimental. I can't fake your death and get you off the radar without it!"

"What the hell are you talking about!" Ikuto shouted.

Chika frowned, and cuddled up to Piyomon. "Right... right... the whole point of you going there was to stop them."

Ikuto and Takeru both moved down and went closer to her, Takeru being the one to get a good look at her face. "I see," the blond said, moving away from her and turning to Mephismon. "So you're our mole. Mind telling me why we didn't know about your little detour into our mission here, or why Kouki was able to use Burst Mode?"

Mephismon didn't say anything, but Chika just sighed. Ikuto went to wrap his arms around her when he noticed something.

The heart shaped symbol that she had been hiding for the last five years was gone. Chika's forehead was completely normal. And she was so out of it... "I... tore out his throat, that's why. He's stuck like that... 'cause of me."

Chika leaned forward into Ikuto's chest... and closed her eyes. Ikuto noticed that her hand was clutching something to her stomach. He moved his hand down to hers and opened it, a rather small white egg-shaped object landing on the ground near her legs. And it had the same symbol that had been on Chika's forehead. "Ikuto-kun... give Me... no, Franz Norstein that...okay?" And with that, Chika passed out, her breath going even.

Ikuto turned his head to turn to the perfect digimon. "Franz Norstein? But how?"

Mephismon looked away. "Why are you so surprised? It isn't like Chika's father hadn't done this already. But you need to give me the Digimental. With that back, no one's going to be hunting her anymore, they'll think she's dead."

Takeru moved over and grabbed it. "It's been a long time since I've seen one of these," he said offhandedly.

Ikuto stood up, sliding an arm under Chika's legs and neck as he got to his feet, looking over at both Takeru and Franz.

"But you know, I really think giving this to you isn't a good idea. Surely you had to have some plan to fake Chika's death if this didn't come out of her," Takeru said.

Piyomon groaned and made it to his feet.

Franz frowned. "I'm working with what I have here. Besides, at this point with what has already been collected from those hybrids that the Virus Busters employed, the digimental is actually completely worthless to both Kurata and my mother. Why use a cheap knock-off when you have the full set of what inspired your plans in the first place."

Ikuto saw Takeru frown before he tossed the small egg shaped thing over towards Franz, who caught it in his massive hand. "You're talking about the Spirits of the Warrior Ten. That explains why your forces were sent here in the first place. But what should we do from here? And what are you going to do with those kids."

"Going into hiding would be your best bet, at least until Chika recovers from this," Franz answered. "As it is now, with Chika supposed to be dead, that does us an unparalleled opening. If we're lucky..." he shook his head. "Nevermind with the ifs. There should be a way for us to bring down my mother and Kurata soon enough." The human and digimon moved closer to Takeru and handed him a small radio-like device. "With this I should be able to contact you once we have a good opportunity to take them down. Just keep her safe for now, okay? As for the children... the ones that our forces beside Kouki got to will be imprisoned, most likely."

Takeru stared. "Kouki's the one who killed Chiaki, isn't he?"

Ikuto just stared at Takeru.

Franz nodded. "It shouldn't have had to come to this, in a better world..."

"It's pointless to think about that. Not now, anyway," Takeru interrupted. "We have to deal with what we have to deal with, it's that simple. Now get back to your troops before your cover gets blown."

Franz nodded, and took to the sky, flying back towards the center of the city.

Takeru turned to Ikuto. "You have Chika okay?" he asked.

Ikuto nodded. "But what do we do now?" Ikuto also wanted to ask Takeru about everything. There was no reason he needed to keep secrets from the two of them. Not anymore.

"We get out of here," Takeru said. "And get Chika to someplace where she can rest, outside of Kura... no, Agatha Norstein's territory."

Piyomon frowned and nodded. "If only I could..."

"No," Ikuto said. "That'd give us away."

At that moment, Ravemon flew down to them and quickly devolved He, Patamon, and an egg fell to the ground in a heap.

Takeru sighed and picked up the egg. "Patamon, get up, we need to leave."

Patamon nodded and flew up onto Takeru's head as Falcomon got to his feet.

Ikuto sighed. Running was all that they could really do right now.


	33. Return to Life

The first thing Chika realized when she woke up was that the bed was comfy.

Then she remembered that she didn't fall asleep in a bed and sat up, forcing her eyes open.

She lasted all of two seconds before falling flat on her back again.

"Chika!" She heard Ikuto yell, and before she knew it his hand was behind her back.

She turned her head to look at him. "Hey Ikuto-kun," she said groggily. "Where are we?" It looked like she was in an apartment somewhere, but she didn't recognize it. Which could mean any number of things that she wasn't really happy to be thinking about right now.

"We're in a safe house of mine," Takeru said, and Chika looked over at him. The blond was seated at a table, a netbook-sized laptop at his fingertips that he was typing on. "Couldn't really last long with what Patamon and I were doing without having several of these all over the place."

Chika tried to sit up again. For some reason it was hard to do, like her body had been shoved into a pool of jello or something.

Takeru looked away from the laptop and frowned. "You should save your strength. We're still not sure how suddenly being human again is going to affect you in the long run, and we can't go to a hospital or back to the base right now. No telling what spies Kurata has there."

Chika blinked. Something that he said didn't seen quite right... "What do you mean?" she asked... before the memory of what happened back when she had passed out hit her. Relena... Franz...

…

She wasn't a bio-hybrid anymore.

"Oh..." Chika said, laying back down again. "This is... I..."

Ikuto smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "It's okay. Just rest for now."

"Where's Piyomon?" she asked.

"He's in the other room," Takeru said. "He's only dealing with being blasted." He took a deep breath and shut his laptop. "So... what do you want for dinner?"

Chika had no idea. "Whatever you guys want is fine by me..." she said, closing her eyes again. "I'm.... not that hungry. For once."

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by: Custom_Magnum

Chapter 33: Return to Life

.o0o.

Relena had no idea what she should be doing right now. Apparently her real mission had been a success, but now she was in the exact same situation that Takuya and the others had been in before. But what was she supposed to do, yell at her Grandma for it? And why did they need the Spirits anyway?

V-mon grabbed her pants leg and started tugging on it. "Are you okay Relena?" he asked.

Relena looked own and frowned. "I'm not sure... I'm... not happy with what Grandma had us do, without telling us about it."

"That's one of the pitfalls of working for this organization," Mephismon's voice said from behind her.

Relena turned to look at the demonic digimon, and frowned. "And you care why?"

Mephismon smirked as he leaned against a wall. "Let's see, you're the granddaughter of the person who gives me money. Why wouldn't I have an interest in your wellbeing?"

Relena turned away. "Sorry, but I doubt Grandma would respond well to blackmail." She looked back down at V-mon, who was glaring at Mephismon now.

Mephismon laughed, but Relena didn't turn around. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of trying that. With all the resources at her disposal, I wouldn't last more than two seconds if I tried. But even so.. if there were any accidents with you... well, I wouldn't want to see the look on her face when she found out."

"V-mon, let's get out of here," Relena said. Getting away from him would probably do her good right now.

"So, what exactly are you planning on doing now that Daimon Chika is dead?"

Relena stopped suddenly. She hadn't even thought about it, she had been too concerned with everything else that had happened to think of it. But... she had gotten her revenge. Mephismon had brought back proof of that to her grandmother... "What do you mean? She asked, turning back to look at him.

Mephismon stared at her for a moment. "Are you still going to fight for us, or are you going to turn into the pretty little princess that you were supposed to grow up into and leave the fighting to us real soldiers."

Relena didn't say anything to that. How could she? The only reason she was here was...

Mephismon turned away. "Well, I guess it really isn't any of my business. You can do what you like." And with that, Mephismon turned and left her standing in the hallway alone with V-mon.

"Relena?" V-mon asked, tugging at her leg again. "Can we go get something to eat?"

Relena forced a smile and looked down at her partner. "Yeah.. let's go."

"Yay!" V-mon shouted as he started heading towards the mess hall.

Relena followed after him, lost in thought. Chika was gone now, there was proof enough for her grandmother and Kurata, so...

She shook her head and kept walking after V-mon, making sure that he didn't get too far away from her. She had told her grandmother that she had wanted to help in the fight against DATS... but if it came down to a fight with Touma... would she be able to do what she just did against Chika?

.o0o.

Chika slowly lifted the chopsticks holding the noodles into her mouth, slowly chewing and swallowing her food. It tasted good... Takeru was a pretty good cook, but for some reason it was... blander than she remembered it. Not that she was anywhere near as hungry as she usually was anyway, but still, she did need to eat.

Takeru and Ikuto both looked at her with concern, what was left of their own food sitting there in their bowls. "Are you okay Chika-chan?" Takeru asked.

Chika stared down at her food. "I guess. I still feel weak and... does this taste... kinda bland to you?" she asked.

"No. It tastes fine," Takeru said.

"Yeah," Ikuto agreed.

Chika looked up at them as Ikuto started shoveling his noodles into his mouth again. Takeru kept looking at her though, frowning. "Maybe it's just me..." she said, pulling up her food again and taking a small bite of it. "So... how long can we stay here?" she asked.

Takeru leaned back. "I'm not sure. We are in a city though, so it isn't like we can't go out and get more food or anything, but even so it'd probably be a good idea to take up a disguise or something if we want to stay here long. All it's going to take is one of Kurata's agents seeing us here to throw everything off. As long as they think you're dead, we have an advantage."

Chika looked down at her bowl again. "Not really... I'm not a hybrid anymore. Piyomon and I can't..."

"Chika, just because you're not a bio-hybrid anymore doesn't mean you're useless now," Takeru said. "You weren't useless before you became a hybrid, and Piyomon can still become Slash Angemon on his own. You'll be fine once you get used to the change."

Chika blushed a bit and took another bite of the food, but found that she couldn't really eat that much more. She wasn't hungry, and she still had half her portion left. "You guys want this?" she asked, pushing her bowl away from her as she stood up... and nearly stumbled as she started heading out of her chair.

Takeru and Ikuto both got up from the table and moved over to her, there arms lifting under her body and keeping her standing even as she leaned against Takeru's chest. "I... thank you," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Ikuto said as he and Takeru moved her over to the bed and helped her lay down.

Chika sighed as her head hit the pillow, curling up in a ball on the bed. "I'm..." She felt one of them give her hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's alright Chika," Ikuto said. "Just rest for now. We'll take care of everything."

Chika was way too tired to even think of arguing. Or even making a sound of agreement. Next thing she knew she was asleep again.

.o0o.

Yuka sighed as she stared at the practice dummy that was just taunting her with its inability to just fall and collapse. It was one of the few days when Makino-sensei wasn't trying to kill them with the training, and so Yuka was spending the time pounding her fists into the dummy's face... which looked a lot like Kurata's.

That may have had something to do with Chika breaking about four of the things, really.

Either way, no matter how hard she'd smash her fist into the dummy's face, it just bounced back! It was almost like it was built just to taunt whoever was using it!

"Yuka, no matter how hard you hit that thing it's not going to explode," Ai said from her seat off at the side, where her Impmon and Tsukaimon were sitting down next to her.

Yuka didn't say anything for a moment, she just shoved her palm in the not-Kurata's nose, before turning to look over at her. "Yeah, yeah, but still! It's just taunting me!"

Ai laughed. "Only you would feel taunted by an inanimate object," the older girl said with a smile on her face. "But really, you should finish up soon. We may only have two weeks of training left before the test, but Makino-sensei is probably going to try to kill us tomorrow."

Yuka sighed, and frowned, moving over to take a seat next to Ai. Tsukaimon immediately flew into her lap. She slowly ran her hand through her partner's fur. "Do you think we're going to be ready?"

"What's bringing this on? Misplaced doubt's supposed to be my thing, not yours," Ai said, wrapping an arm around Yuka's waist and pulling her closer to her.

Yuka wasn't about to object at all. "Yeah, I know, it's just... I'm still twelve. They pulled back the age requirements originally for a reason. What if I'm not good enough?"

Ai sighed and pretty soon Yuka found herself pulled into a deep hug. "Then you'll just fight and get up from everything until they make you an agent just based on your tenacity alone."

Yuka giggled. "Like they'd really do that?"

"Why not, it's how Daimon Masaru got his start," Ai said with a giggle.

Yuka blinked and looked over at Ai. "How did you know that?"

Tsukaimon laughed. "Maybe because she actually reads for fun?"

Yuka frowned. "Oh shut up!" she shouted, before bursting into giggles.

Ai laughed also. "See, you'll do fine! Besides, if you don't pass then Makoto and I won't either, so we'll be together again next time, right?"

Yuka sighed at that. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

Tsukaimon flew up and landed on her head. "Oh, don't worry! We'll win. We had Makino-sensei beating the crap out of us these last few months!"

Ai giggled some more. "Well, there's always that too!" She stopped for a moment and looked around. "Hey, have you seen Mako-chan?"

Yuka shrugged. To be honest, she had been wrapped up in her doubt the past few hours too much to really worry about him at all.

Ai shrugged. "Oh well, he probably just doesn't want to be near us when there's a chance of us being all 'mushy'," she said with a giggle.

Yuka laughed. "Well, to be fair you can be mushy at times Ai!" Before Ai could say anything to defend herself though, Yuka had already closed the distance between their lips. They just kissed briefly though before pulling apart again, when both of them burst into giggles again.

"I'm not the only one and you know it!" Ai said.

Yuka smirked. "So?" she asked, leaning back a bit.

Tsukaimon went tumbling back into her lap. "Hey, warn me next time you're going to do that!"

Yuka giggled and pet her partner on the head. "Sure, sure."

Both Yuka and Ai didn't say anything else for a few moments. Yuka spent most of the time just looking over at her girlfriend, and the smile on her lips.

.o0o.

It had taken a few days, but Chika was now at the point where she wasn't feeling weak at every single waking moment. She could actually move like a functioning human being now!

"God, that was one of the suckiest times of my life, I have to say," Chika said as she slipped into a chair at the kitchen table near Ikuto. All of them were in the room, including the digimon. "Morning everyone!" she then turned to Piyomon. "You feeling okay?"

"Yep!" Piyomon chirped. "I'm not looking forward to us fighting Relena again though."

Chika frowned. "Yeah..." Not only was Relena still a kid and everything was kinda there fault in the first place, but now they didn't even have easy access to Slash Angemon anymore. Chika grabbed her digivice out of her pocket and stared at it. "Hopefully I'll remember how to use the Ultimate digisoul when we need it."

Ikuto frowned. "You shouldn't really worry about that now," he said. "We'll have plenty of time for that later!"

"Besides, Takeru's bringing food!" Patamon chirped from his seat next to Piyomon.

Chika couldn't help but smile at that. "You digimon and food. I mean, seriously."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Falcomon asked. "It's not like food's the only thing we think of!"

Chika laughed. "Okay, you have me there. Unless you're talking about Agu-chan."

At that, everyone laughed. Agumon's appetite was well known around, well, everyone.

Chika sighed though, leaning back against her chair, staring up at the ceiling. "I wonder what everyone's doing back home? Did they hear we're supposed to be...?"

Ikuto shook his head. "I doubt it, it isn't like the people who did survive the battle with us saw us leave. We're probably labeled as MIA right now."

Chika huffed. "Yuka's going to be devastated when she hears that. And our parents..."

Ikuto cracked a smile. "I don't think they're going to worry about us too much. It isn't like we haven't gone MIA before."

Chika sighed, although Ikuto had a point. They had been in a similar situation before, back when the Nightmare Soldiers had attacked Yokohoma when they were still kids, leadings to DATS being forced to relocate...

"We're going to need to come up with fake identities," Chika realized, sitting up straight.

Piyomon nodded. "If we're trying to lay low until Franz can set it up for us to attack Kurata's... no, Agatha Norstein's base, then you're right. You can't show up if your dead, and it'd be better for Takeru and Ikuto to hide also."

Patamon smiled. "Yeah. And we can always hide in the digivices." He paused for a second and frowned. "Oh Yggdrasil, did I really just suggest that!?"

Chika giggled and patted the small digimon on the head. "Hey, it can't be so bad. We'll only need to do that when we're out."

The door opened and Takeru walked in, carrying two bags... filled with what looked to be fast food. "Hey, sorry we're resorting to this, I thought I had more actual food stocked at this one."

Chika just giggled. "Highly fattening factory processed crap's just what we need right now anyway."

Patamon flew up to Takeru. "You got burgers! You're so very awesome!"

Takeru just laughed and put the two massive bags on the table... passing out several burgers to the three digimon, who eagerly started digging in. The blonde didn't even blink as he handed a burger to both Chika and Ikuto and took a seat in between them, pulling another meal out of the bag.

Ikuto just smirked. "How much did you buy?"

"Enough," Takeru answered simply, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite out of it.

Chika stared at his food. It was chicken.

…

Chicken seemed like such a tasty idea at the moment.


	34. The Final Night

Yuka wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to think about what was going on. She hadn't heard any news about Ik-nii or Chika-neesan in weeks and it was starting to worry her. From what she had been able to overhear from some of the DATS agents the fighting in Yokohoma was over and the Virus Busters were gone. So where were they?

She must have been fidgeting or something, since Ai put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, you're going to do fine on the test. Sure it's, well, in two days, but really. You're awesome."

Yuka turned to Ai and frowned a bit. She knew Ai was just trying to make her feel better, but the fact that her girlfriend didn't know her enough to know it wasn't the test that was bothering her mad her feel, rather upset actually. Of course, they've only actually been together for about a month, so she really shouldn't be expecting anything remarkably deep right now but still... "That's not what's worrying me," she admitted. She couldn't be upset with Ai for not knowing that if they didn't talk about it at all, right?

Ai frowned a bit and pulled away from her, turning away a bit. "What's wrong?" she asked, the light from the setting sun basking her face in an orange glow.

Yuka looked down at her hands. "It's just... I haven't heard anything about my brother in weeks, but I have heard that the fighting was over where he was dispatched. I'm... worried."

Ai suddenly hugged Yuka, the older girl's arms wrapping around her waist as her head was pressed against the older girl's chest. "Ai!" Yuka sputtered out in protest.

Ai just kept hugging her. "Don't worry right now, just relax."

Yuka mumbled something, but she didn't argue. She didn't even know how long they were like that before she finally moved away. "I..."

Ai smiled. "Like I said, don't worry about it. We only have another day to relax before the big test. We should go and do something fun!" Ai said, grabbing Yuka's hand. "Let's go!"

Yuka didn't even try to resist, although she was hoping this wasn't going to be another shopping trip. She was almost broke now. She really had no idea where Ai's mass supply of allowance came from.

.o0o.

Broken Dreams

Written by Custom_Magnum

Chapter 34: The Final Night

.o0o.

Chika was bored.

She wasn't used to being bored, at all. But even so, there wasn't really much that she could do around here. She and Piyomon couldn't train, after all, they were living in a city. Why couldn't Takeru have brought them to a safe house in the middle of the country?

She sighed. That was just being selfish. Just because she didn't really like watching movies or TV that much and lost interest in video games when... her life basically became a really horrible RPG didn't mean she could rightly be upset about that, after all.

Takeru must've noticed something from his spot in the kitchen, cooking what was going to be dinner. She hadn't really felt like asking, really. "You okay?"

Chika sighed and lay sprawled out over the couch. "Yeah, just bored really. I guess I'm more like Masaru-niichan like I thought. I just can't stand waiting when I know when something big is going to happen. I mean... that's why I joined DATS back in the beginning anyway."

She heard Takeru laugh. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But even so, there's not much we can really do here. I'm sorry about that. I had these set up more for safety than entertainment in mind."

Chika smiled. "Can't really blame you there," she said. "But... even so... I just wish there was something to do. We even rented some movies, but I can't really get into them." She sighed and turned over onto her stomach, staring at Takeru's back as he prepared... something. "I mean, you aren't even letting me cook!"

Takeru chuckled. "I didn't think you liked cooking that much, honestly."

Chika pouted. "Well, it'd be something to do. Besides, Ikuto can't cook at all."

Takeru laughed. "How'd you think I got so good at it?"

Chika giggled a bit and sat up, turning away from Takeru again. "Still... there's nothing to really do here. Well, besides each other anyway..." She heard Takeru gasp and stumble a bit. "... but that's not something I'd do because I'm bored, Takeru-kun," she finished, barely managing to hold in her giggles. She turned back to look over at him. It seemed that Takeru had gotten his wits back together fairly quickly, as he was putting something into the oven.

A few more seconds passed, and Takeru soon walked back over to her, sitting down on the couch next to her. "Dinner should be ready in a couple of hours," he said, leaning back a bit. "And Ikuto went out to go get some more food, since we're running low."

Chika sighed, although that explained where he went and why he wasn't there. "I just wish that Franz would contact us soon. I'm tired of waiting like this. Any longer and when it finally does come time for us to fight again I'll be so rusty and I'll be useless."

Takeru frowned and moved closer to her, his arm going around her waist. "You won't be."

Chika pouted. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

Takeru shook his head. "I'm not. I really believe that."

Chika pulled away. "Sorry, I'm going to go find Piyomon. I really haven't spent much time with him at all. Then again, there's not much we can do here together."

Takeru smiled a bit and got off the couch. "Maybe get him and Patamon over here so we can watch a movie while we wait?"

Chika was about to say something against that, since if she wanted to watch the movies she wouldn't be complaining about boredom. But something that sounded like a loud cellphone going off distracted her from mentioning that.

Takeru and Chika both looked at each other, already knowing what that was.

Takeru then almost immediately started walking over to where he had put the device that Franz had given him weeks ago.

Looks like it was finally time.

.o0o.

Yuka smiled as she realized where Ai was dragging her. A restaurant. Food. No shopping. She wouldn't be surprised if she had already started drooling.

Ai turned around and giggled. "You that hungry?" she asked... before she stopped moving to poke her in the stomach. "You're lucky that you're so active, otherwise..."

Yuka pouted. "Hey!"

Ai giggled. "What, that's a compliment!" Her eyes were practically sparkling as she said that. "Besides, this place is awesome. You're going to love the food here!"

Yuka smirked. "Oh really? How can you be so sure about that?"

Ai giggled again and this time she pulled Yuka over to her with the arm that was still grasping her. "Oh trust me, I know you really well! Now come on!"

And with that, she was dragged into the rather busy restaurant, there were people all over the place. Yet even so, an waitress came over to them rather quickly and led them over to a nearby booth table. Most of the booth-seats were taken up by groups of more than two people after all.

Yuka stared at the menu for a moment, just boggling at the price. "This... everything's expensive as... god, I can't even think of how expensive it is."

Ai giggled. "Don't worry, I can afford to pay for both of us."

Yuka frowned and took a moment to listen to the nice, soft melody coming out of the speakers positioned throughout the room. "Ai... you don't have to do that. Just look at menu, how can you afford it?"

Ai giggled. "I had a part time job silly. I've been saving up my money for when this massive training session we've been going through started, just so I'd not have to worry about it. Still have plenty left, so don't worry."

Yuka pouted. "But still! Have you actually looked at this menu!"

Ai giggled. "Yup. Plenty of times."

Yuka didn't really know what to say. "I still don't like this."

Ai giggled and leaned in closer to Yuka. "Oh, don't worry about it. If it makes you feel any better, once you pass the exam and are a DATS agent you'll have enough money to take me out on dates and pay."

Yuka still pouted. "Okay... fine," she said, before smiling. "I'll try to make sure you don't regret paying for me.

Ai smiled at that. "Oh, don't worry, I won't."

.o0o.

Ai stared at her receipt from the restaurant. "Do you and Tsukaimon have a shared stomach or something?"

Yuka giggled... but then pouted a bit. "Look, I'll pay you back for it, okay?"

Ai looked at Yuka for a moment as they walked. "Oh, don't worry about it. Trust me, I still have more than enough. I just... didn't think you could eat that much. Seriously, those portions they give are massive as hell."

Yuka just let out a nervous giggle. "Well... it was so yummy that I felt like eating more."

Ai just stared. And stared some more. It was getting to the point where Yuka was seriously thinking of giving Ai all the money she had right there to lessen the financial blow that she had made her girlfriend go through.

And then Ai started laughing. To the point where she was nearly doubled over on the ground.

Yuka's eyes widened a bit and she moved over to her girlfriend, who kept on laughing and pretty soon Ai's arms were wrapped around Yuka's body. Oh, and she kept laughing all the while. "That... sounds just like you," Ai finally managed throughout giggles.

Yuka frowned. "Well, I am me." She didn't think that was funny at all though.

Ai smiled. "Oh, come on, you know in my position you'd be laughing your little butt off as well."

Yuka blushed a bit. "Well, maybe..."

Ai sighed and leaned up again the wall. "Sorry about that, I think I'm better now."

Yuka smiled. "You sure?"

"Oh, I'm positive. Don't worry about that," Ai said, pulling Yuka closer to her and quickly placing a peck on her lips.

Yuka sighed as Ai pulled away. "So... after the test, wanna go do something?" she asked. "I mean, we're probably not going to have as massive of a case of Makino-sensei trying to kill us when we're not students anymore."

Ai smiled at that. "Oh, of course. Did you think I was going to say no?"

Yuka blushed a bit and moved away from Ai. "No, I didn't. But I... still wanted to ask. You know, so we know in advance and all. I think we'd be better off just hanging out though. Besides, we're probably going to be really tired to do much of anything that involves running around." Well, that and Yuka wouldn't feel so bad about Ai spending more money on her.

Ai just nodded and smiled some more. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

Yuka smiled. "Okay! Awesome! So... see you soon then?"

Ai pouted. "Aww, you're not going to let me walk you home?" she asked, reaching out and grabbing at Yuka's hand, squeezing it softly.

Yuka blushed a bit. "Well... ummm... if you want?"

Ai giggled and pulled Yuka closer to her again. "Oh, I want, don't worry."

Yuka smiled as the two of them started walking over towards her apartment. Yuka just hoped that her mother wouldn't take this badly. Although thinking about it, her mother probably already knew anyway.

.o0o.

Chika sighed as she stared out the window. It was hard to believe, that it was finally time to act.

"Chika?" Piyomon asked, walking up next to her. "Are you okay?"

She forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just..." Okay, smile was gone now. "I... you think its going to be able to work? That we're actually going to be useful?"

Piyomon nuzzled at her side, his head rubbing up against her. "Of course we are. We're not useless, remember?"

Chika giggled a bit and placed her hand on Piyomon's head, rubbing it softly. "Yeah. I mean, I've been begging for this to come for a while now, but now that it's going to happen? I'm afraid. Just forgetting about the strength that we have at the moment, Relena's going to hate us more than she already does. After she finds out about Franz, what really happened..."

"It's probably better for us if we stop worrying at this point," Piyomon pointed out. "Relena's made her choice... and we're not going to be able to convince her to come back. If anyone's going to be able to do that, it'll probably be Touma. Maybe."

Chika frowned and pulled Piyomon closer to her, wishing for a moment that she was younger again. They used to be the same height and hugs were much easier. "I guess, but even so... this is my fault. I can't pretend that it isn't."

Piyomon sighed. "You've never pretended that it isn't, but you aren't responsible for Relena's choices."

Chika didn't say anything in response to that. She really couldn't, even though she knew that he was right. Even so, it sure didn't feel like it.

Piyomon stayed with her for several moments, before finally pulling away. "We should probably start resting early. We start heading to the rendezvous point tomorrow morning, right?"

Chika nodded. "Yeah, we do." Even so, she wasn't really feeling that sleepy yet. Of course, the fact that it was still early evening probably had something to do with that. The sun was just setting.

"Okay. See you in the morning," Piyomon said, turning around and walking back into the one of the other rooms.

Chika sighed and kept staring out the window. Despite what Piyomon had said though, Chika knew that there was no way she was going to be able to get to sleep anytime soon. And yet again, they were heading into a dangerous situation. There wasn't any guarantee that the six of them were going to come back from this one. It was just pure blind luck that Chika had come back from Yokohoma in the first place.

She heard the door open again and two people step inside. "Chika-chan?" Takeru called out. "Something wrong?"

Chika sighed and turned around to face both Takeru and Ikuto. "No, just thinking. About the next mission and everything."

Ikuto frowned and walked over to her. "If you don't think you're up to it Takeru and..."

"I'm going," Chika said, cutting him off, glaring at him a bit. "I have too. It's just..." She looked away, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "I'm..." She shook her head. This could be their last night together. There...

"I think I'm going to head to bed," Chika said, turning around and walking towards the bedroom. She stopped and turned her head to look back at Takeru and Ikuto. "You two coming?"

.o0o.

Chika's body tingled as she let out a scream, before rolling off of Ikuto and into the space between him and Takeru, the sheet sorta sticking to her nude body as she panted. "Oh god, that was...."

Takeru's arm wrapped around her waist and soon his lips were pressing against her neck.

Chika smiled and closed her eyes. "Sorry Takeru-kun," she managed to squeak out. "I think I'm done for the night.

Takeru's lips pulled away from her neck, while at the same time she saw Ikuto move over to grab the discarded blanket, pulling it over the three of them. "So, does that mean I'm not allowed to kiss you?"

Chika giggled. "Not on the neck," she said, heck, practically sang as she turned to face Takeru, planting a quick kiss on his lips before pulling away, resting her head on a pillow. She smiled as she felt Ikuto's hand start rubbing her leg, giggling a bit. "Didn't you hear what I just said?" she teased.

"Yep!" Ikuto answered cheerfully, not moving his hand from her leg at all.

Chika giggled some more, before sighing and closing her eyes. "If only this could last forever..." she mumbled.

Takeru and Ikuto both laughed at that.

Chika sighed again. "I'll be honest. I only asked for this because I was afraid that one of us won't come back from the attack on Norstein's base..." she began, trailing off a bit.

"Chika..." Ikuto said, pulling himself closer to her and Chika could feel him pressed up against her back now as both of his arms wrapped around her. "That's..."

"Don't tell me it's a stupid fear," Chika interrupted. "I... look, you know what happened in the last battle at Yokohoma. You guys know how it is. But... both of you, promise me you'll do whatever you can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Chika-chan..." Takeru trailed off. "That's a stupid thing for you to make us promise. We're going to do that no matter what."

Chika sighed. "I know, but I just needed to hear it. I... did this because I was afraid we wouldn't get another chance. But... I don't want to even think about this being the end. I want more nights like this, I want all of us to be there. I want us to be able to tell our family what's going on with us; I want to be able to start our own family someday." She felt both Takeru and Ikuto's arms tighten around her when she said that.

"Chika, we will. We'll be able to do all that," Ikuto said. "That's a promise."

"Same with me," Takeru added. "I..."

Chika closed her eyes and leaned back a bit. "Thank you, you two. That means a lot." She let out a sigh. "We should probably get to sleep..." she said, yawning a bit. "If only I could use both of you as a pillow at once."

Takeru laughed and moved closer to her. "Not sure how we'd pull that off, honestly."

Chika smirked. "I know, I know." She felt Ikuto's lips on her neck again briefly, but soon was yawning and fell to sleep without even mentioning it.

.o0o.

Author's Notes:

Okay, yeah, I know. Late, late, late.

I figured I owe all of my loyal readers an explanation for it, so here it goes.

I lost my job back in the summer, and things = hectic to the point where I'm searching for a job.

I've had no luck in the months that I've been searching. Now, I know that this should theoretically make me have more time to write this, this hasn't been the case. There's a lot of days where I'm just plain not in the mood to write anything, and most of my writing period used to be done on my lunch breaks at work. Money being tight is also an obvious problem that leaves me drained to the point where I can't really focus on writing anything.

But, on the days that I do write, I have other stuff too. I'm working on an original novel at the moment, and it's taking my attention away from Broken Dreams most of the time when I want to write. And on the days where I do want to write, I feel like if I can get it out I need to work on the original stuff because there's a chance of money coming from it. However small that actually is.

But I haven't given up on this fic, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to dedicate at least some writing time to it in the coming months so I can finish it before I get to work on any of the other long-term project ideas I have floating around in here.

Oh, and I have stuff for the Digimon Frienship challenge coming soon also, so at the very least you all have some things in the future to look forward to from me.

And hey, the Romance Plot Tumor of Takeru X Chika X Ikuto is finally done interfering with the main plot of the fic, meaning that we're getting to scenes that I've been waiting to write for a good long while now.


End file.
